Iraq to relaunch air force nearly 20 years after Kuwait war: "Iraq is to relaunch its air force which was decimated in the 1991 Gulf War and to train pilots for a squadron of 18-24 fighter planes, Defence Minister Abdel Qadr Obeidi announced on Wednesday.
Obeidi said at the reopening of the air force academy in Tikrit, in northern Iraq, that the facility would produce a new generation of pilots, navigators and ground crew.
'We are turning a new page in the history of the Iraqi air force,' the minister said as he attended the arrival of four US-built T-6A trainer aircraft piloted by Iraqi instructors."
