Iraq preferred to receive American F-16s instead of Russian MiG-29s.

In the middle of this year, the information resource Avia.pro, citing military sources in Iraq, reported that the Iraqi Defense Ministry had begun negotiations on the purchase of Russian MiG-29 fighters. Speech, according to some sources, could be about two dozen fighters, however, in the United States, this was considered a threat to its own interests, since Russian military specialists would inevitably appear in this country, and provided Baghdad with the opportunity to use F-16 fighters.

“The resumption of operation of Iraqi F-16s was the result of several months of maintenance and repairs carried out by American specialists. This work was stopped by the American side many months ago, as a result of which the Iraqi F-16 squadron was relatively young, but could not take off. The Iraqi Air Force has repeatedly tried to carry out maintenance, but it failed, so the Iraqi Air Force announced plans to purchase MiG-29 fighters from Russia. In mid-2020, the Iraqi Defense Ministry announced that it was in talks with its Russian counterpart to purchase a MiG-29 to replace the discontinued American-made F-16s. ", - about it сообщает information publication "DatViet".

Remarkable is the fact that the US military initially refused to repair the F-16 fighters, however, obviously realizing that with the advent of Russian fighters in Iraqi armament, the problem would become more acute, they decided to repair and maintain the F-16.