U.S. EQUIPMENT ON TRACK MOVING SMOOTHLY OUT OF IRAQ, GENERAL SAYS

U.S. EQUIPMENT ON TRACK MOVING SMOOTHLY OUT OF IRAQ, GENERAL SAYS - U.S. forces equipment currently in theater is expected to be moved out by Sept. 1, when the military-led operations transition to a civilian lead, the commanding general of U.S. forces there, said yesterday.
Army Gen. Ray Odierno said U.S. forces will continue to assist Iraq in building its forces and, beyond 2011, there will continue to be some technical support as Iraq buys U.S. weapons systems. In the future, Iraq plans to equip its forces with U.S. tanks and aircraft.” They’ve already committed to M1A1 tanks," Odierno told the Defense Writers Group. "They committed to C-130s; they have put a Letter of Request in for F-16s--we're still working our way through that. They have bought some helicopters from the United States, so we'll continue to provide technical advice to them."
Additionally, post-2011, an Office of Security Cooperation will be set up inside the U.S. Embassy.
For example, Iraq has an approved Foreign Military Sale of 140 M1A1 Abrams tanks from the Army inventory, tank recovery vehicles, Humvees and other equipment for approximately $2 billion. The request was made in December 2008. Action on the sale is in abeyance until Iraq's government is in place. General Dynamics [GD], Honeywell [HON] and General Motors [GM] Allison Transmission Division would be the contractors. (Source: Defense Daily) - bit.ly/Iraq2011

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