A report published by the American Forbes magazine warned of serious technical problems threatening the squadron of F-16 fighters from the Iraqi Air Force, which made them perch on the ground six months ago.
The journalist Paul Eden, who lives in Iraqi Kurdistan, said in his report with the magazine that the year 2020 has not yet been a good year for the F-16 fighters of the Iraqi Air Force, however the future of this fleet is not necessarily bleak.
He pointed out that as a result of the increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran after the killing of the Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a US raid near Baghdad airport early this year, the United States began to withdraw from several bases throughout Iraq.
As part of this withdrawal, American contractors were evacuated from Balad Air Force Base, where Iraqi F-16s are based, due to the threat posed by missile attacks by Iraqi factions backed by Iran.
These American contractors had previously assisted Iraq in maintaining F-16s, some of which were received by Baghdad from Washington in 2015, and kept operational.
Since the beginning of this year, many of these aircraft have become stalled due to a lack of technical support and maintenance, and a senior Iraqi official has recently gone as far as to say that the F-16 fleet is "about to end," says Eden.
Iraq can no longer, at the present time, continue the routine patrols that were used by the F-16s that were being carried out in the western Anbar province, where they were monitoring any infiltration by ISIS across the Syrian border.
Despite these setbacks over the past six months, Iraqi F-16 fighters should not be crossed out yet.
A prominent expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Michael Knights, ruled out that Iraq would abandon significant investment in the F-16 fleet and its pilots.
He added that "Iraq will not be the first country to stop using part of its fleet or reduce the number of flying hours that its pilots receive due to a lack of funding," noting that this happens throughout the countries of NATO.
American personnel on Iraqi bases - including that of Balad - have been subjected to rocket attacks by factions backed by Iran several times over the past year.
Baghdad did nothing to fight these groups, but last June, the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi took a position, and arrested 14 members of the Hezbollah Brigades, the main suspect in several rocket attacks.
Such a consistent approach by the Iraqi government against such groups can help persuade and reassure US contractors that returning to Iraq is relatively safe and continuing to help Baghdad keep its F-16s operational.
"The protection of foreign citizens is necessary to resume F-16 support," Knights said.
On the one hand, the stationing of Iraqi F-16s at Balad Air Force Base was "always disturbing because of the presence of both Shiite factions and ISIS in the region."
On the other hand, the Balad base is also "an ideal location in terms of range, as the F-16 is a short-range aircraft, as Iraq lacks the ability to refuel the aircraft in the air."
Knights suggested that Iraq transfer many F-16s to other bases in the country, and the alternative bases he proposed included Baghdad or Erbil airport, or the Assad air base in Anbar province, western Iraq, which is near the Syrian border.
Knights said that "Iraqi F-16s are not very important at the present time because of the presence of the international coalition and its air force."
However, if the US-led coalition leaves, Iraqi F-16s may become the only ones capable of reaching any target or location quickly.
Knights concluded by suggesting another option is to use less sophisticated and costly drones and drones that are constantly carried in the air near potential targets, as it can fill the F-16 vacuum in the end.