Iraq Air Defence: Four Suppliers, Three Deals, No Deliveries

Iraq has put air defence at the top of its priorities to fill the gap and protect its airspace as drone and missile threats grow. The international coalition withdrew its systems on 30 September 2026. 

The government has moved to diversify its arms suppliers. However, its efforts span two signed contracts with South Korea and Turkey, one of which is stalled over funding. It also includes a preliminary letter of intent with France, as well as an announced contract with the United States, the details of which are not yet finalised. 

With no new system delivered yet, the real test is whether Iraq can complete these deals. And even then, if it can integrate these disparate systems into a single, unified national air defence network.

After the Coalition: The Gap Today

The coalition has completed its withdrawal, taking its defence systems with it. Iraq relies on very limited defences, and the Kurdistan Region is almost unprotected from the air, the US magazine Forbes reported.

Questions grew after a report by 964 Media on 14 October quoted a security source as saying the authorities were investigating unidentified air activity detected over the west and south of the country between 1 and 12 October. The report said Iraq operates French Thales GM403 and US TPS-77 radars, and that the extent of their coverage remains in question.

Defence Ministry spokesman Yahya Rasool, however, said in an interview with the Rudaw Media Network on 30 September 2026 that Iraq has radars covering all its territory, but that air defence needs further development. He also stated that the incoming systems are intended to defend the whole of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region.

Haidar Al-Mousawi, head of the Al-Qimma Centre for Strategic Studies, told the Al-Maalomah news agency on 28 October that deploying new radars without systems to protect them would make them easy targets. In addition, he said Iraqi airspace had become a theatre for US and Israeli aircraft.

What Iraq Actually Has

Iraq’s ground-based air defence is limited to Russian Pantsir-S1 batteries and US short-range Avenger systems, according to Forbes. These systems have not stopped drone attacks or repeated violations of the country’s airspace. In June, Shafaq News described the current network as a set of fragmented, short-range platforms with limited coverage.

Four Suppliers, Different Levels of Commitment

To fill the gap, Iraq has turned to four suppliers, but progress varies sharply from one to the next:

South Korea: 

LIG Nex1 announced in September 2024 that it had signed a 3.7trn won (about $2.78bn) contract to export the Cheongung-II system, the Korea Times reported, citing Yonhap News Agency. Hanwha Systems supplies the radar, and Hanwha Aerospace makes the launchers and vehicles. Forbes described the system as capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and said Iraq chose it over France’s SAMP/T because South Korea could deliver it faster.

Turkey: 

Lieutenant General Saad Al-Harbiya, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces, told The National on 6 May that Iraq was completing the purchase of 20 systems from Turkish state-owned companies, and that a contract had been signed and the financial details were being finalised. Channel 8 reported on 22 May that the deal was worth about $300m, covered the Hisar and Korkut systems and would be paid in instalments.

France: 

During Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi’s visit to Paris on 14 September, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence signed a letter of intent with Harmattan AI, a declaration of intent with the French Ministry of the Armed Forces and a roadmap for future procurement.

United States: 

Sabah Al-Numan, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said Iraq had signed a contract with the United States, but he did not name the system. In the past decade, Iraq sought three Hawk-XXI systems and received only the Avenger.

On delivery dates from the United States, Turkey and South Korea, Al-Numan told Rudaw on 16 October that the first air defence system would arrive “within the next few months”.

The Korean Sticking Point: Funding and Delays

The largest deal has stalled the most. It covers eight batteries. Iraq paid a first instalment of $500m, but the remaining payments, due in 2025, have been delayed because the funds were not allocated, Shafaq News reported on 6 July. 

Iraq was still discussing the financing in August, according to Forbes. MP Falih Al-Khazali told Shafaq News in July that South Korea had warned it could sell the system to another country if the remaining instalments were not paid.

Drones Force a Rethink of Air Defence

Rudaw has counted more than 1,000 drone and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region since late February. Coalition aircraft shot down ten bomb-laden drones over Erbil on 2 September, the region’s Counter-Terrorism Directorate said, according to Rudaw, Shafaq News and AFP. The difficulty with drones is their variety: from small, low-flying craft to larger, longer-range ones.

This calls for a layered air defence that combines long-, medium-, and short-range systems with counter-drone measures and electronic warfare. Forbes suggested that the Cheongung-II take the middle layer and the Korkut handle close-in defence, but that depends on the systems actually arriving.

The Russian and Chinese Option

The options are not limited to the four suppliers. In August, parliament’s Security and Defence Committee asked the prime minister to allocate a budget for advanced systems from South Korea, China, and Russia, committee member Karim Aliwi Al-Mohammadawi told Shafaq News.

In an analysis in April, Shafaq News quoted Asif Melhem, director of the JSM research centre in Moscow, as saying Russia has something to offer, within limits: it cannot supply Iraq with anything that poses a direct strategic threat to the United States. MP Mohammed Al-Shammari said in September 2025 that the US hold on Iraq’s funds at the Federal Reserve prevented their use in arms deals with Russia or China.

Former MP Mohammed Hassan Al-Shammari told Al-Maalomah that any arms purchase from outside the US system is obstructed by the United States, and that some countries are ready to supply, including Russia and Turkey.

Integrating Systems, Not Just Buying Them

Differences in radars, communications, software and data-exchange protocols could hinder the building of a single coherent air defence if integration is not designed in from the start. Military expert Imad Allo told 964 Media that the problem goes beyond buying systems and calls for an integrated command-and-control system and coordination among the armed forces’ formations.

Military expert Adnan Al-Kinani told Ultra Iraq that the current systems are “ineffective” at fully protecting the airspace, and that radars alone are not enough against drones and ballistic missiles. The new systems lack integrated control rooms, he said, calling for investment in deterrence alongside defence.

Rasool told The National on 8 September 2026, before the coalition withdrawal, that the government was building an integrated national air defence system with long-, medium- and short-range capabilities, alongside radars and command infrastructure. In the same article, security and strategic analyst Maan Al-Jubouri said building an effective defence architecture takes expertise, training and years, not just purchases.

On the legislative side, parliament completed the first reading of a proposed law to fund the strengthening of Iraq’s air defence systems on 6 July 2026, Channel 8 reported. Parliament said the proposal provides a legal and financial framework for procurement, operation and maintenance with no financial commitment outside the budget. On 29 October, the Security and Defence Committee, chaired by MP Khaled Al-Obaidi, hosted officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Air Defence Command to discuss the proposal, according to the official website of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.

From Supplier Diversity to a National Network

Spreading purchases across suppliers gives Iraq wider choice and reduces its reliance on a single source. But it does not guarantee an effective defence without national planning that sets out each region’s needs and ensures that radars, interceptor systems and command and control work together. What will decide whether these deals are worthwhile is the move from scattered systems, none of which has yet arrived, to an integrated national network.