Prague - As the first votes were cast in the Czech regional and Senate elections on Friday 12 October, Defense Minister and Senate candidate Alexandr Vondra announced that Iraq agreed to buy 28 L-159 military jets from the Czech Republic.
However, there is yet one crucial step to be taken to conclude the USD 1 billion deal. Baghdad has yet to officially sanction the contract. Without the signature of an authorized Iraqi official, there will be no deal.
"The contract hasn't really been signed yet, there are technical talks in progress," said Iraqi ambassador to Prague Hussain Saleh Majeed Mualla. According to him, the contract is so far rather verbal.
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Mualla was not able to estimate how long will the technical talks take. "Days, weeks. Surely not months. Both sides are determined to finalize the contract," said the ambassador, adding that the deal must be sanctioned by a member of the Iraqi government.
The delay makes Czech arms trade circles fear that the emerging lucrative deal will be eventually scrapped, as has happened many times before with other military contracts.
"Until the contract is signed, the airplanes manufactured, paid for, and delivered to Iraq, I will not take the deal seriously," a source from the Czech arms business told Aktualne.cz on condition of anonymity, due to his ties to the Defense Ministry and Czech arms firms.
A similar contract for the sale of the Czech military's unused L-159 jets to Iraq was abandoned two years ago due to political disagreements in Iraq. Defense Minister Vondra believes that this time, the situation is different as the deal is backed by the Iraqi PM and Defense Minister.
"We have an agreement that the contract will be signed in weeks," said Vondra.
Four of the aircraft to be sold to Iraq are already owned by the ministry, the remaining 24 airplanes will be manufactured by Aero Vodochody, a Czech aircraft firm. The aircraft will start to be delivered to Iraq in two years.
Aero Vodochody president Ladislav Simek said that 40 suppliers will participate in the production, and 750 new jobs will be created.
