But Iraq might not have enough weapons for its new fighters. The Pentagon only planned to provide 100 AGM-65 Maverick missiles and 600 Paveway bombs in total, according to press releases from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

We don’t know if the Iraqi air force actually has any of the munitions on hand. And even if the weapons are waiting at Balad, they wouldn’t necessarily last very long.

Between October 2014 and January 2015, the U.S. Air Force dropped more than 500 GPS-guided bombs on Iraq and Syria. Despite having only three planes to launch them, Baghdad itself burned through hundreds of Hellfire missiles in the past 12 months.

In May 2014, the U.S. Army said that it was rushing 300 Hellfire missiles to Iraqi forces. Two months later, the Pentagon announced plans to deliver 5,000 more of the deadly weapons to Iraq.

Most likely, Iraq would need more than 700 Mavericks and Paveways to keep up the pressure on Islamic State in any meaningful way. Of course, the Pentagon has done its best to rush vital arms to its beleaguered allies.

But bombing targets in Iraq first requires Baghdad having the tools, skills and experience to reliably keep its newer and more complex F-16s flyable. In a land of sand, dust, heat and other environmental hazards, the small Iraqi air force will face serious challenges.

“The Iraqis have nothing [at Balad] to sustain the F-16 mission,” Steven Max, a contractor with the U.S. Air Force’s 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron, told the flying branch’s reporters in January 2014.

“They have a flight line and a couple of buildings,” Staff Sgt. Jessica Hobkirk-Burrow, also from the 72nd, added. “We’re supplying everything else that they need.”

Six months later, Islamic State insurgents chased American contractors away from their work at Balad. This delayed the F-16 pilot training program and forced Iraqi flyers to practice in Arizona.

Despite recent Iraqi victories, the base remains close to the front lines. In June 2015, suicide bombers killed 38 policemen in Samarra—about 30 miles away from Balad. If Islamic State could attack the F-16s on the ground, it’d be a disaster.

On top of that, militants have shot down a number of Iraqi helicopters with shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. Islamic State could try and knock out the jets when they’re taking off or landing. That’s when the planes are moving slow and low to the ground — and at their most vulnerable.

Then there’s logistics and maintenance issues. A week before the new F-16s showed up, an Iraqi air force Su-25 inadvertently dropped a bomb on a Baghdad neighborhood, causing a dozen casualties. Iraqi authorities blamed the accident on a mechanical failure.