page_title: Iraqi Air Force
section_title: Current inventory
hierarchical_section_title: Iraqi Air Force / Aircraft / Current inventory
caption_attribution_description: English: Lt. Col. Julian Pacheco and Iraqi air force captain Hama land one of the IAF's new F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft Dec. 16, 2014, at the Tucson International Airport, Ariz. Due to the current security situation in Iraq, the IAF pilots will complete their training in their own aircraft in the U.S.
context_page_description: The Iraqi Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces, responsible for the policing of international borders and surveillance of national assets. The IQAF also acts as a support force for the Iraqi Navy and the Iraqi Army and it allows Iraq to rapidly deploy its developing Army.
  The Iraqi Air Force was founded in 1931, during British control of Iraq after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WW1, with only a few pilots. Aside from a brief period during the Second World War, the Iraqi Air Force operated mostly British aircraft until the 14 July Revolution in 1958, when the new Iraqi government began increased diplomatic relationships with the Soviet Union. The air force used both Soviet and British aircraft throughout the 1950s and 1960s. When Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979, the air force grew very quickly when Iraq ordered more Soviet and French aircraft. Its peak came after the long and bloody Iran–Iraq War, which ended in 1988, when it consisted of 1029 aircraft of all types, becoming the largest air force in the region. Its downfall came during the Persian Gulf War and continued while coalition forces enforced no-fly zones.
caption: Iraqi F-16D landing at Tucson International
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