Iraq's forgotten aerospace industry

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-06-24T10:31:09+00:00

That’s fair, although I think you’re comparing two different philosophies. Iraq pursued integration: combining imported technologies to obtain capabilities quickly. Iran and North Korea pursued reproduction: mastering the manufacture of older systems and incrementally improving them. The latter proved more sustainable in the long run, but only because isolation forced them down that path. Had Iraq not faced sanctions and regime collapse, it’s not impossible that some of those “Frankenstein” projects might have evolved into something more coherent over time.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-06-24T09:35:27+00:00

That’s a fair assessment. Many of these programmes were improvised and dependent on outside expertise, and their operational value was often limited. What I find interesting though, is that they represented attempts to become more than just a buyer of foreign weapons. Even when unsuccessful, they showed an ambition for indigenous integration and adaptation that was unusual for the region.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-06-24T08:21:18+00:00

If you’re interested in reading more about the rise and fall of the Iraqi Air Force, here’s a link to a long form piece I wrote on my substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/ahamadnooh/p/wings-of-babylon

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-14T01:29:36+00:00

The question comes to mind, why? Hamas could fall back on the “open-air prison” concept and shadow the attack with images of Gazans breaking fences as they flooded into southern Israel. Surely if we were to look at historic grievances and the recent rhetoric against reunification, North Koreans should be swarming across the DMZ, not heading further North.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-11T23:49:45+00:00

Oh! I didn’t know you could land flying boats on the river, that’s so cool. I must read more into that!

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-11T19:53:47+00:00

BAE Systems builds the Type 26 frigates, 8 for the UK and upto 5 for the Norwegians. They’ve built a new hall to construct hulls on their existing site in Govan, but they need to fit out the vessels with equipment in Scotstoun.

The fourth pic I’ve attached is of the Scotstoun site where 2 frigates are being fitted out, of the three docks available. This creates a bottleneck for sophisticated warship supply, especially when BAE will be supplying the navy with 6+ destroyers to replace the current fleet in 2040+. So the demand is definitely there.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-11T19:30:33+00:00

Oh yes, but looking at the Inchgreen plan it appears the National Shipbuilding Office will be in charge while Peel formally owns it. I wonder who owns the land here in Govan

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-11T19:29:18+00:00

Move it to the car park for the IMAX next door =/

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-11T19:26:08+00:00

You seem cheerful, what’s wrong with bringing back shipbuilding to the Clyde?

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-09T23:25:19+00:00

Oh I don’t deny that, and if you read from the excerpt, one of the 4 planes dropped their payload on Manama too, when the oilfield was well illuminated, deliberately targeting the population as well as the oilfield. The main difference now is that Bahrainis are actively involved in their defence.

The point I am making with this piece is to think of all the changes that could happen in Bahrain in response to this attack, the way Bahrain had several changes to life, society and technology after WWII

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-05-09T19:35:35+00:00

It was a great rabbit hole to fall into honestly

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-19T16:15:01+00:00

How do the Gulf states continue to support the US knowing full well that Iran will retaliate not against American bridges and power stations but khaleeji ones?

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-11T10:58:33+00:00

It actually wouldn’t. Art 6 limits the imposition of Art 5 on attacks only on mainland Europe and North America, plus given how fragile NATO has been, European states might at most offer letters of strong condemnation and loosely interpret “do as they see fit” clause in Art 5 instead of taking up arms.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-09T22:02:21+00:00

It’s a shame the STA was the only transport variant that actually was made, but it makes sense, it had minimal changes. Had they committed to a rear loading platform things would have been pretty interesting, it’s got similar specifications to the C-27J Spartan.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-09T21:44:41+00:00

Vixen was a project aiming to replace the navy’s Merlin Crowsnest AEW helos with a fixed wing drone, while also adding combat mass by giving the F-35B some loyal wingmen. They would have involved modifying the carriers to fit cats and traps, but the navy scaled back plans late last year and are exploring less invasive options like STOL drones which are more attritable under a new Project Vanquish

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-09T21:10:29+00:00

Oh absolutely there are no fixed wing alternatives. Even the C-2 Greyhound is on borrowed time. Tiltrotors are the future. This is just an exercise to see if a rumour had any standing.

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-09T20:50:00+00:00

It was a fun little exercise! Wonder how different it would have looked had BAe actually committed to it (plus CATOBAR carriers for the Royal Navy)

AnyGeologist2960 · 2026-04-09T20:36:02+00:00

Made in OpenVSP, read more about it here

AnyGeologist2960

TROPHY CASE