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ITAM-AF: advising Iraqi air force's way ahead

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Sanjay Allen
  • Air Component Coordination Element-Iraq Public Affairs
CAMP STRYKER, Iraq --  The Iraq Training and Advisory Mission-Air Force, or ITAM-AF, provides advice, training and assistance to the Iraqi air force in order to develop capabilities in airspace control; command and control; airlift; ground attack; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; development of Iraqi airmen; combat support; and sustainment.

When military combat operations here ended with the transition to Operation New Dawn Sept. 1, reaffirming the U.S. military commitment to Iraq's security forces, government and people, ITAM-AF already had a multi-year jumpstart on the mission of advising, assisting, training and equipping the Iraqi air force.

"The key elements of the mission are a focus on stability operations and the ability to partner with Iraqi Forces where possible," said Brig. Gen. Scott Hanson, ITAM-AF director and 321st Air Expeditionary Wing commander. "But overall, the focus is on training, advising and assisting the Iraqis, which has been our bread and butter, our core mission for the last several years."

To accomplish their mission, ITAM-AF employs mostly Airmen advisors, but also includes Soldiers and Sailors, across different bases throughout the country. They are advising and training the Iraqi air force in each headquarters directorate such as personnel, intelligence, logistics, operations, etc.

"We've really moved into the over watch and mentor phase," the General said. "We oversee their accomplishments and we help develop further skills so that these capabilities are enduring.

It takes a variety of different functions to operate an air force and ITAM-AF looks at the Iraqi air force as a collection of major core functions including command and control, developing airmen, mission support, ISR, air-to-ground attack, airspace control and defense against external threats to name a few.

"We bring in Airmen from all walks of Air Force life who have different experiences and have done some of this work on our own Air Staff, in our own major commands and even some of our numbered air forces," General Hanson said. "They are charged with advising their Iraqi counterparts on how they can best pull this all together and become an effective air staff to support their commander and to support their units out in the field."

To be able to better advise the Iraqis, air advisors work shoulder-to-shoulder with their Iraqi counterparts at Iraqi air bases throughout the country. Bases such as Sather Air Base neighboring the Iraqi New Al Muthana AB; Tikrit AB with Al Sahara AB; and Ali AB.

"Those opportunities provide us a chance to interact with the Iraqi's and help them in their growth in operating their own airfields and their own airbases and continuing to develop capabilities such as airfield management, civil engineering and security forces," he said.

With 10 months in Iraq as the head of the ITAM-AF mission, General Hanson forecasts a bright future for the Iraqi air force and the people of Iraq.

"I have great optimism about the future of the Iraqi air force and actually the future of Iraq," General Hanson said. "Because I think their air force represents, and is, a microcosm of the Iraqi people and the great leadership the Iraqi air force is privileged to have."