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Czech Senate OKs plan to send air instructors to Iraq

Xinhua, April 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Czech Senate approved on Wednesday the plan of sending 35 air instructors to Iraq to help train pilots of Czech L-159 fighters.

Czech military sold 15 redundant L-159s fighters to Iraq in 2015. It expects to send the instructors to the Balad air base which is about 65 km north of Baghdad in early June in 2016.

The instructors will continue training Iraqi pilots who were trained on L-159 fighters in the Czech Republic until recently, and they will stay in Iraq until the end of 2018.

Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky said on Wednesday that the instructors would operate at Balad and they would not take part in combat operations.

According to Stropnicky, the Czech team will have 30 members, including two pilots, six technicians, eight patrols, a doctor, a commander, five staff members and their chief and six specialists in logistics and communication. If needed, a further five troops would be sent to Iraq to reinforce the team.

The cost of the mission is 265 million crowns (10.7 million U.S. dollars) at most and will be covered from the Czech defence budget.

The plan is yet to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The instructors may leave immediately upon the approval of the plan from both houses. Endit