A General Question RE: Iraq/Iran War air campaign...
 

Guys:

I'll cut to the chase; How did Iraq & Iran(well at LEAST Iraq) manage to maintain their airforces' viability for the WHOLE war? Most Modern (IE POST Korea) "conventional" wars were of very high intensity but short duration due to consumption/distruction of 'materials' faster than they could be supplied(6 Day war; Ramadan/Yom Kippur War, 82 Lebanon War, Falklands/Malvinas, Somalia/Ethiopia War, the 65 & 71 Indo/Pak Conflicts);

any idea why Irq-v-Ir managed to be different? There DID appear to be a big 'blip' in the air war at the start but it seemed that air force activity continued throughout the nearly decade long conflict...I sort of found that surprising...the only reason I could think of is that the Iranians were dead-set on overthrowing The Ba'ath Party (AND overturning ALL regional applecarts as well) so 'cease fire negotionations' were NOT an option until MUCH time, treasure & blood had been used up.

Thx

NM

Re: A General Question RE: Iraq/Iran War air campaign...
 

I think your question is in two parts. Here are my opinions:

WHY did the war go on so long? That is a political and social issue, I won't even touch it.

HOW did the air war go on for so long? A combination of very low sortie rates (by current NATO standards anyway), both per unit time and per airplane, and under the table technical supplies and assistance from a range of sources.