AF Plan Could Enable Iraq Air Sovereignty, Independence

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --- Work being done here by officials of the Electronic Systems Center and its federally funded research and development center partner, MITRE Corp., is helping pave the way for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.>> ESC and MITRE International Operations specialists, in concert with a number of ESC acquisition groups, completed work earlier this year on a comprehensive Iraq Air Sovereignty Master Plan, a roadmap that will help enable the Iraqi air force to operate without U.S and coalition assistance.>> "We're helping to bring U.S. warfighters home by laying out a plan that will position, and properly equip, the Iraqi air force to operate on their own with regard to air sovereignty," said Charlie Bell, a MITRE engineer working with ESC's International Operations Division.>> The team built an initial plan, dubbed Safe Eagle, which was intended only to outline the steps and equipment needed to rebuild Iraq's air traffic control infrastructure. However, the ESC team reasoned that the investment could be leveraged to benefit air sovereignty and air defense; a point which Iraqi military officials and coalition transition officials ultimately agreed upon.>> "It made sense that they needed to concentrate on flight safety and landing planes at first," said Sal Pomponi, a senior member of the team. "But they also need to be able to defend their air space and be able to command and control their air assets.">> The team realized that the Iraqis might not have the resources to build all the systems at once; nor would they have the manpower to operate them all, even if they could be emplaced immediately.