The Iraqi officials said
that they were satisfied with the cooperation under the contract with
their Ukrainian partners as well as the performances of the new Ukrainian
armored vehicles.
“The tests [of the armored carriers] were successful. No serious
problems have been identified. We are pleased with the cooperation with
the Ukrainian partners. Iraq operates the Ukrainian produced BTR-4s,
which were earlier shipped to the country, in the toughest field conditions.
This is a new advanced machine for the Iraqi army,” Ukrspecexport
quoted the Iraqi delegates as saying.
For its part, the Ukroboronprom state concern said the Ukrainian side
will continue to comply with its contract obligations.
“Despite the significantly stricter requirements of the Iraqi
side for acceptance of this batch of BTR-4s,
in which each vehicle was tested under a special program, the customer
had no serious complaints about the machines delivered to them. Now,
the main task is to create effective customer maintenance to service
the vehicles delivered to the Iraqi customer,” the state concern
said.
As reported, a contract worth over $550 million for the supply of the
Ukrainian military hardware to Iraq was concluded in 2009. In particular,
Ukraine was to supply Iraq with six An-32 light transport aircraft and
420 BTR-4
armored personnel carriers.
Among the key Ukrainian contractors are the Kharkiv-based Morozov design
and engineering bureau, the Kharkiv engine design bureau, and the Malyshev
plant, all of which belong to the Ukroboronprom concern, as well as
Kyiv-based Antonov enterprise.Deliveries of the aircraft were finished
in 2012.
Iraq received the first batch of 26 BTR-4s
in spring 2011 and the second batch of 62 vehicles in autumn 2012.
Earlier, Iraqi Ambassador to Ukraine Shorsh Khalid Said told Interfax-Ukraine
that Kyiv and Baghdad were preparing for the signing of an intergovernmental
agreement on military and technical cooperation between Ukraine and
Iraq. “The countries are expected to sign an agreement on military
and technical cooperation, which will give an impetus to the development
of our relations,” the ambassador said.
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