List of aviation shootdowns and accidents during the Iraq War


This list of aviation shootdowns and accidents during the Iraq War includes incidents with Coalition and civilian aircraft during the Iraq War.
According to media reports, 129 helicopters and 24 fixed-wing aircraft have been lost in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, up to February 2009. Of these incidents, 46 have been attributed to hostile fire, such as anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. In March 2007, Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt said that 130 helicopters had been lost in both Iraq and Afghanistan, about a third to hostile fire, and he was concerned that they were not being replaced fast enough. A report published in "Aircraft Survivability" in Summer 2010 gave a total of 375 U.S. helicopters lost in Iraq and Afghanistan up to 2009. Of these, 70 were downed by hostile fire, with the other 305 losses classified as non-hostile / non-combat events.
Unmanned aircraft of any type are not included in the list below.
At least 283 personnel have been killed in helicopter crashes since the invasion, and 19 have died in fixed-wing crashes.
Since the beginning of the invasion helicopters were the target of attacks with "aerial improvised explosive devices". In early 2007, the U.S. Army announced that the Iraqi resistance had developed a strategy for attacking American helicopters. This was confirmed by documents captured from Iraqi insurgents. A U.S. deputy commanding general in Iraq said that the average month in 2006 and 2007 saw about 17 attacks against helicopters. Efforts to reduce losses included more training for helicopter pilots and improvements in tactics and aircraft defenses. In the fall of 2007, the U.S. military deployed the more advanced V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. According to the U.S. military, this aircraft flies much higher and faster than helicopters and has six to seven times more survivability than the widely used CH-46.

Rotary-wing aircraft

2010

2008

Several civilian and other aircraft have been shot down or crashed in Iraq as well:

2009

Summing up the above list we have the following tables:

Summary per year

Summing up the above list we have the following tables:
YearTotalHostile fireOther reasonHuman casualties
20103038
20094137
200871618
20072516949
2006146852
20051331045
200429111830
20033472768
Total1294683277