report and photos: Babak Taghvae
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Three Su-25s, including serial 2513 (formerly 15-2451 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Air and Space Force — IRGCASF) were forward-deployed to Balad AB during the days that followed. This airfield is some 160km south of Tikrit, allowing CAS and interdiction sorties to be launched.
Over the next few days the strategic highway between Tuz Khurmatu and Tikrit was re-taken and secured by the allied forces, together with the Hamrin Mountains. Fire support was again provided by IQAF Su-25s.
March 5 saw a surge in interdiction sorties by the Su-25s, and the terrorists set fire to oil wells in the Ajeel oilfi eld, in order to hinder air strikes against their positions. This failed to stop the IQAF, and the Su-25s performed several strike sorties that day, liberating and securing the village of al-Maibdi as a result.
The strategic town of Ad-Dawr, south of Tikrit, and Al-Alam north-east of the city were liberated and secured on March 7 and 9, respectively. On March 11, the allied forces prepared to infi ltrate and liberate Tikrit, but fierce resistance by the terrorists, as well as hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and booby-traps, resulted in the operation stalling on March 17.
Owing to a lack of co-ordination between the IQAF and ground forces, the accuracy and efficiency of the air strikes had declined.
The Su-25s were only using unguided OFAB-250-270 bombs and S-8 rockets, which lacked the precision to hit the terrorists’ hide-outs in rural areas surrounding Tikrit. The Iranian Ababil-3 and Mohajer-4 unmanned aerial vehicles being operated by IRGCASF control centers at Al Rashid AB and Samarra were the only means of gathering daily reconnaissance.
As of March, from the fleet of nine IQAF Su-25s, just five — serials 2500 (formerly IRGCASF 15-2458), 2513, 2520, 2522 and an unidentified airframe — were mission-ready. Others were undergoing maintenance.
Of those five, just three Su-25s were sent to Balad to support allied operations around Tikrit. Combined with the limited co-ordination with ground forces and a lack of precision weapons,
the efficiency of their strikes left much to be desired.Iraqi officials now began negotiations with the US-led coalition forces to convince them to use their air support to pound IS strongholds in the center of Tikrit, and guarantee the full liberation of the city. On March 23, the US Air Force performed initial surveillance sorties over Tikrit, to gather information for the forthcoming attacks.
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