The Daily Iraq errors report

[DRG]

Marcello said:

The following units are armed with weapon 19, the RPG-7V.
269 408 413 434 435 461 462 477 488 518 519 520 703 740 762 770 770 774 777 779 787 988.
These should be rearmed with weapon 18, the RPG-7.

The RPG-7V is probably supposed to represent one of the high end RPG warheads. In reality however the iraqis had to make to do with the usual PG-7G/PG-7M and the likes, capable of roughly 330mm of penetration.
Some higher end weapons have been used by the insurgents but in very small quantities only and definitively were not in widespread service in the old iraqi army (or the new one for that matter).
Weapon 156 should be enough to represent those few modern RPGs.
You can read the naval explosive ordnance disposal division reports here:
https://naveodtechdiv.jeodnet.mil/IraqOIG/iraqoig.asp
The RPG warheads are under the "rocket" list. It is a very comprehensive list of the ordnance found in Iraq.

This is all useful but as you note some of the higher end units have made it to the insurgents albeit small quantities and If I removed every weapon in every OOB that was only supplied "in small quantities" there would be some howling from the " if they had it it should be in the OOB" crowd. Therefore unit 740, which isn't an army unit, doesn't qualify. Nor does 787 really but a case could be made for having them in and out

Now, this just lists the 7V's. OK, I can accept that the Iraqi army did not use the 7V. Do I assume that since you didn't mention the RPG-16 and PRG-18 also in the OOB that these were available ?? or not ?? They are a "very small quantity" item in the OOB used by only a half handful of units

Don

[Marcello]

Unit 782, ambush sappers uses weapon 156 RPG-7VR.
I purposefully did not mention it because I thought it could fill the role of "limited availability, high end RPG" for the insurgents. A PG-7VR was probably used to disable at least one Abrams after 2003.

"Do I assume that since you didn't mention the RPG-16 and PRG-18 also in the OOB that these were available ??"

RPG-16/18 were available in some numbers (not huge but some) to the iraqi military and have been found in insurgents caches. There are pictures floating around of RPG-18 toting insurgents.

[Marcello]

As I see it the RPG-7V is a questionable weapon to arm anybody in the iraqi OOB.
The denomination itself is debatable, given that the closest match in the real world (600mm of RHA penetration, single warhead) would be the PG-7L as it was discussed here in the past.
And regardless of naming conventions I have found no mention of PG-7L use in Iraq. On the other hand it seems some PG-7VR may have been used.
So I am in full agreement that one or two odd insurgent units should be armed with something better than basic
RPG-7 (or occasional RPG-18/16), but no more than that and weapon 156 RPG-7VR is the best candidate for the role.

[DRG]

OK, Sounds resonable

Don

[Marcello]

Now some random stuff.
Formations 725 and 726, Recalled Republican guard.
I do vaguely remember the issue being raised at some point during either the Garner or Bremer administration with the intent to use them to restore order, but nothing was done of it, given the uproar it would have caused. They should be deleted.

Formation 749, Guer Tanks (Guerilla tanks).
There are no reports of the post 2003 insurgents having ever used armored vehicles (there are a few reports of some technicals but that's it). The Peshmerga had some tanks but that since much before 2003, presumably captured during the 1991 struggles.
This is an old example (I can dig more recent pictures if you are interested).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:K...Iraqi_Tank.JPG

So this formation should be either deleted or made available much earlier.

[DRG]

OK, Noted. I'll look into this

Don

[Marcello]

Now some armor and other miscellaneous stuff.

Unit 12, Type 69-II. It should be rearmed with weapon 71 or 72, the D-10T (all the pictures show it with the 100mm rifled gun not the 105mm). Its availability date should be anticipated to 1983 (according to SIPRI arms trade registers) and extended to at least 2015 or the end. An X2 radio code would be also a nice change.
If the tons of pictures I have seen are an indication this tank was the workhorse of the iraqi army and was extremely common. It is still in use in limited numbers (a few tens give or take). On the other hand it is questionable that many, if any, Type 69-I were aquired. Supposedly the 100mm smoothbore variant was not very succesful and was not made in large numbers and as far the iraqis were concerned it would have required a separate ammo supply.And while I have seen zillions of Type 69-II, I never spotted a Type 69-I.

Unit 618 at a minimum and maybe even 11 should be replaced with the corrected Type 69-II.

The M60s.
Iraq is supposed to receive a significan (600-700) shipment of M60 later this year. Supplier is likely to be Greece. Tanks will be of the M60A1 Rise and M60A3 TTS varieties. So far however Iraq has never operated the type, the few M60s captured in the 80's were just parked somewhere. Therefore I suggest the following:
1) Unit 9 to reclassed as medium tank.
2) Units 9-10-37 to have availability dates starting from the second half of 2008

Some sources for this
http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=2681008&C=landwar
http://www.longwarjournal.org/oob/index.php