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Faced with difficulties supporting its Russian-made helicopters, like the Mil Mi-17 pictured, Iraq is buying new rotorcraft from France, South Korea and the U.S.
Faced with a constant drumbeat of regional instability, governments in the Middle East are making sizable investments in modernizing their armed forces.
While the most attention is focused on purchasing combat aircraft and uncrewed aircraft systems, the region’s rotary-wing capabilities also are being bolstered.
- Saudi Arabia is seeking domestic helicopter assembly
- Iraq will be first export customer for the KAI Surion
- The Bell 505 is being adopted across the region for training
In the past two years alone, several states in the region have introduced rotary-wing fleets—developing new capabilities or, in the case of some, reducing their dependence on Russia as Western sanctions make it difficult to secure spares and support.
Perhaps the most substantial investments over the past five years have come from Iraq, which is recapitalizing its army aviation units with modern types acquired from France, the U.S. and, in a first, South Korea.
Many of these will replace Russian-supplied types that were already in service, or pressed into use, and then heavily utilized when the Islamic State militant group took control of vast swaths of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
Now, with the Islamic State group largely defeated by Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces and an international coalition of nations, Baghdad is pressing ahead with modernization.
Iraq’s first step was a fleet of new training helicopters, Bell 505s, the first of which arrived last summer to rebuild rotary-wing training capacity. These will be joined by armed Bell 407Ms, adding to the IA-407 versions of the aircraft that were delivered in the early 2010s, as well as Bell 412Ms set to replace Iraq’s Mil Mi-17 fleet that has become challenging to support.
Baghdad also has ordered 12 Airbus H225M multirole twin-engine heavy helicopters to supplement the Bell 412s as Mi-17 replacements on counterterrorism, special operations, tactical troop transport and search-and-rescue duties.
Perhaps the most noteworthy move is Iraq’s decision to become the first export customer for Korea Aerospace Industries’ (KAI) Surion helicopter. KAI secured a $93 million contract to provide an undisclosed number of the helicopters by March 2029, news agency Yonhap reported in December. It is the first export sale of KAI-built helicopters and follows extensive marketing of the Surion in the Middle East, including an international debut at the Dubai Airshow in 2023. There, KAI displayed an export version of the Surion, a twin-engine, 8.7-metric-ton utility helicopter developed in conjunction with Airbus. Dubbed the KUHE, short for Korean Utility Helicopter Export, it can be fitted with armaments, avionics and sand filters for desert operations.
Bahrain, meanwhile, has reequipped its attack helicopter squadrons with the Bell AH-1Z Viper to handle maritime and critical infrastructure security, replacing the country’s older AH-1F models. Bahrain might supplement those AH-1Zs with ex-U.S. Marine AH-1Ws from Excess Defense Articles stocks, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency detailed in March 2023. In addition to those attack helicopters, the country also has procured the Bell 505 for rotary-wing training, and the Bahrain Police Aviation Command plans to acquire nine Airbus H145s for security operations.
The Bell 505 has become a popular training platform in the region; Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have adopted it. The UAE is home to the Horizon flight training academy, which is owned by the Edge Group and instructs rotary-wing pilots for the country’s military.
Saudi Arabia, which has the largest military of the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, has reequipped its army and national guard with a fleet of largely U.S.-made helicopters and its navy with Sikorsky MH-60R shipborne rotorcraft. In line with its ambitions to localize 50% of defense expenditure, Riyadh’s defense industry has been attempting to establish a local helicopter assembly capability. Several companies signed agreements with manufacturers last year to explore building aircraft for domestic government and military needs. Airbus, Leonardo and Turkish Aerospace have signed agreements over the past two years, but none have been finalized.
Gulf nations also are monitoring Iran’s rearmament. Tehran’s closer links with Moscow have resulted in orders for new rotorcraft for government agencies, but it appears that Iran’s military also may receive Mil Mi-28 attack helicopters along with new fighters and advanced jet trainers. New rotorcraft are sorely needed, particularly after the crash in May of a Bell 212 operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force of in which President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed. The helicopter, which had been flying since before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, crashed in mountainous terrain in poor weather, conditions for which the type is ill-equipped.
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