Adapt or fail: The United States Air Force’s role in Reconstituting the Iraqi Air Force, 2004-2007

by Air University Press, Air University Press

Prior to its involvement with the Iraqi air force in 2004, the US Air Force (USAF) was relatively inexperienced in helping to create an air force for a partner nation. Usually the partner nation would already have an air force and the requisite infrastructure—only needing better airplanes, more training, or additional spare parts for the equipment already on hand. None of those conditions were present in Iraq when the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT) was tasked to create an air corps for what the Coalition Provisional Authority called the New Iraqi Army. Nor were the handful of USAF personnel assigned to the CMATT air cell (CMATT-A) given any special preparations or high-level support and oversight after that task had morphed into the creation of a full-fledged Iraqi air force— and all that must accompany such an undertaking—in 2005.The resulting ad hoc nature of CMATT-A’s operations combined with other factors to produce an untenable situation for the USAF, USAF Reserve, and other Department of Defense component advisors involved. Unfortunately, that increasingly serious situation did not garner the attention of the USAF’s senior leadership until such neglect was found to be a contributing factor in an aircraft accident that took the lives of five dedicated Airmen—four USAF members and an Iraqi Air Force officer—on 30 May 2005.This study summarizes the events that led up to that accident and the consequences that followed, including the decision to replace CMATT-A with a larger, better-resourced organization led by a USAF general officer, the recognition of the need to deploy significantly greater numbers of suitably trained USAF instructor/advisor Airmen to Iraq, and the concerted action to assist the Iraqi Air Force in obtaining more capable aircraft. These improvements took the better part of two years’ analyses, preparations, investment, and adjustments. This study summarizes the essentials of that complex sequence of events. It is a story about accomplishing a demanding, unheralded mission under harrowing conditions in a foreign land.

161 pages, Paperback

Published May 10, 2019