INA- Baghdad
Major General Yehia Rasool, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces' spokesman, announced on Monday that military and technical committees have been sent to numerous countries to negotiate contracts for the purchase of anti-aircraft weapons, confirming the ongoing operation of the radar system in general.
"Iraq contracted for French radars and a shipment arrived from them, and we are going to complete the radar system in general," Major General Rasool said to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), adding that "there are low, medium, and high-range radars."
"The military command, led by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, confirms the first priority of the air defence command systems," he stated, adding that "the Air Defence Command is capable of radar detection and monitoring the movement of aircraft within Iraqi airspace."
He said, "When contracting for weapons or advanced systems, this will be announced," adding that "there are technical and military committees that visited a number of countries and made offers to them with access to anti-aircraft weapons."
Hussein Hashim al-Amiri, a member of the parliamentary security and defense committee, confirmed to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that "work is underway to complete the infrastructure in the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Diwaniyah with the operations center at the airport, the headquarters of the Air Defense Command at an amount of 160 million euros." He further noted that "the first phase of the GM403 radar contract with the French company Thales, by 4 radars, has been installed tactically."
He clarified, saying, "An air defense missile system with a range of 100 km and an amount of 4 billion and a half billion euros was offered, provided that it is later developed for a greater distance, provided that Iraq pays one billion and 200 million euros." He also mentioned that the signing of the second phase of the contract was completed to secure 14 low-detection radars and an amount of 700 million euros, as the amount of 100 million euros was paid.
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