Iraq News

The US commander in charge of foreign military sales to Iraq Brigadier-General Charles Luckey said that Iraq has requested an additional 140 Abrams tanks on top of the 140 it has already ordered under a deal signed last year. Luckey told Reuters that Iraq’s government has requested the extra tanks, made by General Dynamics Corp, last October, a month after agreeing the first shipment. Yet, the US Government did not respond to the request since Iraq has not yet proved it has the sufficient funds for the latest request. He added that Iraq had also submitted a request for an extra 26 armed scout helicopters, last October while it was sealing an existing deal to purchase 24. Luckey noted that the 1st 140 Abrams tanks already purchased would not be delivered until 2010, but as a part of the initiative the United States had loaned the Iraqi security forces 22 Abrams tanks to use for training.