One of the most ambitious efforts made by Iraq in its military aviation history in the late 20th century was that of its creative adaptation of aircraft to reconnaissance and combat missions.
It was the leadership of Iraq that headed the move in the 1970s and 1980s, pushing Arab states toward achieving an independent industry in armament.
Such a move was partially driven by a prolonged conflict with Iran that necessitated a military technological update.
Among the most impressive projects was a Dassault Falcon 50, converted into a powerful reconnaissance and combat aircraft.
It was reported in 1986 that Brigadier General Mudher al-Farhan of the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) wanted to obtain reconnaissance photography of Iranian oil terminals in the Persian Gulf.
This led to the employment of a Falcon 50, utilizing a mistake in the navigation system as an excuse to fly close enough to the Iranian island of Sirri to take some vital reconnaissance photos.
This eventuated in the latter stages with an attack on the tanker terminal by Mirage F.1s.
The Falcon 50 was named Suzanna after receiving some heavy overhauling and equipping it with AM.39 Exocet missiles to turn the aircraft into a prime anti-ship platform.
The aircraft also came to notoriety when on May 17, 1987, it launched Exocet missiles on the USS Stark, killing 37 sailors.
Iraq apologized for the incident soon after and paid monetary compensation to the involved families as well as to the Pentagon. It, however, became obsolete quickly since its role had further evolved. By 1989 it was equipped with additional fuel tanks and reconnaissance systems.
Theoretically, it was now arguably the most capable intelligence asset in the Middle East.
Technical problems plus a lack of support from France, however, prevented it from being used operationally. Eventually, at the end of the war in 1991, Suzanna was evacuated to Iran as part of a batch of other Iraqi aircraft.
Experience with Suzanna gave birth to a very significantly modified version of the Boeing 727, reportedly called Faw-727.
Such an aircraft was reportedly an Iraqi Airways passenger airliner, fitted out with high-tech electronics warfare packages and probably other systems for gathering intelligence. It had to be used at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; however, a full description of changes made to this aircraft is not available.
At around this time, the United States Navy Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates were in excellent operation of naval forces throughout the Cold War period. Escort frigates of the 1970, were introduced into fleets to escort fleets from Soviet submarine threats.
Equipped with Mk.13 missile launchers, they provide wide-area air defense against anti-ship missiles. At the end, though, of the Cold War, there was still that feeling of necessity for the air defense capabilities of these ships, and so the Perry-class, and other command ships of similar sizes, were put out to pasture and phased from ant-submarine warfare roles.