If concluded, it would make it Britain's biggest arms deal with Iraq since the 1980s when Saddam Hussein was deemed a Western ally against Iran, The Financial Times said.

The Hawks, which are used to train fighter pilots, would provide a major boost for Iraq's emerging post-Saddam air force, which ultimately wants to acquire several squadrons of Lockheed Martin F-16s.

Such a purchase, given Iraq's history of military confrontations under Saddam, is viewed with considerable misgivings by its neighbors.

The Financial Times reported April 30 that Baghdad was also looking at buying military aircraft from Italy and South Korea.

In 1989, while Saddam was still in power, Iraq was negotiating to buy 50 Hawk trainers from BAE's predecessor, British Aerospace.

But Britain's conservative government, by then increasingly leery of the Iraqi dictator, blocked the deal citing concern that the aircraft could be converted to fly combat missions.

With less than four months to go before the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops is scheduled to be completed, the development of Iraq's postwar armed forces has assumed an increasing importance.

The 200,000-person army, trained and largely equipped by the U.S. military, is taking an increasing role on maintaining security as the Americans pull out. The Interior Ministry's security forces and the police appear to be less prepared and equipped.

The 3,000-strong air force, which will arguably be more oriented toward external threats, is slowly re-emerging since the Americans began to rebuild it in 2005 and switched from Saddam's Soviet-era weaponry.

But its composition and firepower is still being questioned while the Americans, and to some extent the Iraqi government, seek to balance the requirements for self-defense and deterrence of potential enemies, against an offensive potential that threatens other states.

Some fear that a strong air force could be misused, as it was under Saddam in the 1980s and 1990s, with catastrophic consequences for Iraq and the region.

The Iraqi air force, one of the first in the Arab world, was established in 1931 under British tutelage and found in half a dozen conflicts including the 1980-88 war against Iran and the 1991 Gulf War against a U.S.-led coalition.

"Control of the air has been a vital cog in the U.S. occupation of Iraq," analysts James Denselow wrote in the Guardian newspaper of London. "But by the end of August … the skies of Iraq will be very different place."

The new Iraqi air force, he concluded, will be "symbolic of the U.S. desire to create a relationship of strategic dependency where they are perceived to have left an Iraq that can secure itself yet without posing a danger to its neighbors."

The Baghdad government has for some time been moving toward large-scale investment in air power.

The effort to obtain Hawk trainers underlines this. These aircraft are used to produce pilots for heavily armed supersonic strike jets like the F-16. The Iraqi government, which has said it plans to spend $5 billion on U.S. arms for its new military, wants 96 of the Lockheed Martin jets.

The Americans have still not approved such a purchase. And if they do agree to provide F-16s, it will likely be in smaller numbers so they can continue to exert some control over Iraq's aerial capabilities.

As it is, Iraq's financial crisis, caused by a fall in oil prices, will probably slow that process even further.

What is very clear is that the air force won't be allowed to grow to the proportions of the air power -- some 750 aircraft -- that Saddam had up to the start of the 1990-91 war.

The Americans have provided three Lockheed Martin C-130 transport aircraft. Another six are on order.

They are the largest aircraft in the inventory that is largely made up of six Cessna AC208B Combat Caravans and 8 SAMA CH2000 reconnaissance aircraft and 8 Cessna 172 propeller-driven trainers.

There are also two squadrons of 18 Russian-designed Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters, which can be armed with rockets. Baghdad wants a total of 50. There are also 38 utility helicopters, including 16 Vietnam-era UH-1H Huey IIs and 10 Bell 206-B3 JetRangers.

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