With only seven russian-made Mi-17 helicopters serviceable out of 45 present in inventory, the Iraqi military is looking for a replacement. The other 38, as indicated by IISS' Military Balance 2024 study, are resting in storage because of the inability to acquire spare parts and provide maintenance.
Against this background, Iraq selected French Airbus Helicopters H225M as the successor, making russian defense executives anxious about one of its established customers slipping away in favor of European manufacturers. Airbus reported delivery of the first two H225Ms to the Iraqi Armed Forces on April 30, 2025. The handover ceremony took place during the visit of Thabet Al-Abbasi, the Iraqi Defense Minister, to France.
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The contract, signed in September 2024, provides for the supply of 12 H225M multi-purpose helicopters in total. They will replace the russian-made Mi-17s in the Iraqi Ground Forces and will be used for transport tasks and battlefield support of government troops against Islamic fundamentalists. The H22M for Iraq will feature the HForce weapon system, which can integrate and combine a wide variety of armaments on external suspension pylons.
It's worth noting that earlier, Iraq had also received 23 H135M utility helicopters from Airbus, positioned by the company as "the perfect platform for military pilot training." This makes the new supply of H225Ms a natural extension of the fleet capabilities.
To expand on the topic of the aging russia-sourced fleet in Iraqi possession, The Military Balance 2024 also lists six Mi-35M helicopters in active service, plus another 15 Mi-35M and 15 Mi-28 of various modifications in storage. Fixed wing arsenal is represented by up to 19 Su-25 attack aircraft of several modifications in service.
On the one hand, this illustrates how important Iraq was for the russian federation as a buyer of aircraft. On the other, the country has for a while been suffering from problems related by obtaining spares for maintenance, forcing the Iraqi military to abandon years-long partnership and look for alternatives.
Particularly, in May 2023, russia was trying yet couldn't sell components for Mi-28 and Mi-35 helicopters to Iraq, so the latter had to mothball many of these helicopters until a solution was found. Now, Iraq is slowly but surely receiving replacements, so russian military analysts are worrying about losing an important market for their aircraft.
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