Iraq signs preliminary deal for Czech planes

Iraq has signed a preliminary agreement to buy 12 Czech-made light combat planes as it works to restore combat capability decimated in the US-led invasion.
Martin Danko, the broker for the deal, refused to reveal the price today. The package must still be approved by the governments of both countries.
Iraq had initially agreed to buy 28 of the Czech-made L-159 combat and training planes in a deal worth USD 1 billion in 2012. It was not immediately clear why the parameters of the arrangement had changed, nor why the original deal fell apart.
Defence Ministry spokesman Jan Pejsek says the ministry will assess the deal in a week.

Czech defence officials have been trying to sell the subsonic military planes for years because the military has no use for them.