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Iraq's Army Organization
From Jane's World Armies (1996)
Iraq Military Assets Allied Military Assets U.S. SHIPS
U.S.TROOPS- Aircraft Carriers
- George Washington
- Independence
- Cruisers
- Destroyers
- USS Barry
- USS Carney
- USS Ingersoll
- USS John Young
- USS John McCain
- Frigates
- Submarines
- Amphibious Group
- Other ships
BRITISH ASSETSCNN Analysis: The U.S. Arsenal Since 1991, the Iraqi High Command has been engaged in a desperate attempt to rebuild its armed forces in order both to confront external threats such as Iran and the Western-backed Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, and to suppress domestic rebels in the north and the south of the country. Although the debate continues over the exact size of the losses suffered by Iraq in 1991, it is likely that the army ended the war, and subsequent uprisings, with as little as a quarter of its pre-war divisional strength, a quarter of pre-war manpower and half of its equipment. The rebuilding has taken place against a background of political instability, with numerous senior officers losing their lives in coup attempts and purges, and in light of the impossibility of obtaining new equipment or spare parts due to the UN embargo. Reorganisation and retraining programmes have also been disrupted by operations against Shi'ite rebels in the south and the Kurds in the north.
Nonetheless, the Iraqi military has been able to reconstitute a considerable portion of its pre-Desert Storm combat power. Despite massive equipment losses, Iraq's military remains a potent threat to its neighbours. Once the country is again able to import modern hardware and, crucially, spares and logistical support equipment, then its military may well be able to re-emerge as a dominant force in the Gulf.
The army has consistently operated with a hollow organisational structure. Its large numbers of divisions have never been manned and equipped according to their tables of organisation and equipment. In theory, regular armoured divisions prior to Desert Storm had 12,100 men and 245 tanks, while infantry divisions had 14,100 men and 78 tanks. In practice, these complements were not reached. Divisional structures were often intended to be filled out by reservists or additional conscripts in time of crisis but, as the allied victory showed, the quality and dedication of many of these men were not very high. As a consequence of the equipment losses in 1991, even Iraq's reduced number of divisions cannot fill their mandated equipment holdings. This discrepancy between nominal and real strength certainly deluded outside observers during the Gulf crisis, and it is quite likely that it deluded Saddam himself as to the true state of his military establishment.
However, since the 1991 Gulf war, the army has been the prime focus of the rebuilding effort. The approach since 1991 has been to reduce the numbers of formations and personnel, amalgamate units and concentrate on rebuilding armoured and mechanised units. In 1991, the army was infantry heavy but it now has more armoured and mechanised formations. The number of regular army divisions has fallen from about seven armoured/mechanised and 20 infantry divisions to two or three armoured divisions, three mechanised divisions and 15 to 17 infantry divisions. These divisions are, at least nominally, structured along the following lines.
Armoured divisions have two armoured and a mechanised brigade; mechanised divisions have two mechanised and one armoured brigade; while infantry divisions have three infantry brigades and a tank battalion. Armoured brigades have three armoured and a mechanised battalion while mechanised brigades have three mechanised and a tank battalion. Divisions usually have four artillery battalions in support. These regular units are generally equipped with the BTR series of vehicles and older Soviet tanks such as the T-55 and T-62. An unknown number of the T-55s were upgraded before 1991 with the T-72 (125 mm) gun while others have applique armour.
© Jane's Information Group 1996 No reuse or redistribution permitted.
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