F-16 Deal

The Iraq government has transferred its first payment for 18 Lockheed Martin F-16C fighter aircraft, the block 52 variant, initiating a foreign military sale that has a "total value" of "approximately $3 billion," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement this afternoon.

"These aircraft will help provide air sovereignty for Iraq to protect its own territory and deter or counter regional threats," he said. "They are also a symbol of the commitment to a long-term strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq."

The Defense Department expects foreign military sales, "including items such as F-16 aircraft, to serve as a cornerstone of our future cooperation and support the development of the long-term cooperative security relationship we envision with Iraq," Little said. In general, foreign military sales strengthen U.S. diplomatic and military ties with allies and "support American industry and jobs at home," he said.

Earlier this month we reported on remarks made by Maj. Gen. Russ Handy, commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq, who told reporters that the Iraqis had recently had "very promising" conversations with the Air Force about an aircraft sale that would net them the F-16s as soon as 2013.

From our story:

Once Iraq has inked a deal to purchase the aircraft, the country will be able to access additional pilot training, Handy said. That pilot training will be included in the F-16 purchase package, he said. However, currently there are already 10 Iraqi pilots training in the U.S. to fly aircraft that might not be available to them by the time they have finished their training courses, he added.

It takes about three years to train an F-16 pilot, Handy said. Adding that, "some of those pilots might finish that F-16 training before those F-16s arrive in Iraq."

"The Iraqis are looking at ways of mitigating that," he said. "Other nations have been known to buy flight time, for example, and fly F-16s elsewhere to stay current."

Negotiations were tentative earlier in the year but fell apart amid uprisings in the Middle East, Handy said.

"The last time we went through this . . . the Iraqi government decided not to sign the letter of offer and acceptance," he said. "As you recall, it was a bad time in the region. Many nations, concurrently, were having very awful things going on in their neighborhood and, again, this is my opinion, my conjecture, but I think the prime minister of Iraq [Nouri al-Maliki] was watching that . . . I think the prime minister took notice of that and he took that money and diverted it to [social service] resources as opposed to spending in on a defense purchase of F-16s. I think it was a courageous decision."

What may have changed since then and re-ignited the discussion of that F-16 sale, Handy said, is that al-Maliki has likely seen some improvements in his country and that Iraq's oil revenues are up and its finances are in better shape now.

"I don't presume to speak for him, but we are very encouraged," he said.