Australia is committing six fighter planes and 200 special-forces soldiers to the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq.
But what exactly will their role be?
Australia's military role in Iraq has begun in the air.
It has committed six Super Hornet fighter jets, a surveillance aircraft and a refueller to the United States-led coalition backing Iraq's military.
Supporting Australia's so-called Air Task Group are nearly 400 Royal Australian Air Force people deployed to the Middle East.
Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin says there are three key targeting scenarios when Super Hornets head out on bombing missions.
"From the deliberate planning right at the start using intelligence to develop a target pack, right through to Iraqi forces that might have advise-and-assist personnel with them requesting air support. Dynamic targeting -- i.e., (that is,) they're launching to be on call for a situation as it may develop."
The strike fighters are armed with air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons that cost between $40,000 and $50,000 each.
Group captain Micka Gray says they have an error margin of about one metre.
"The JDAM, the GPS-guided, free-fall bomb, they're 500-pound class or 2000-pound class,* so GPS-guided. And the second one is a GBU-12, which is a laser-guided weapon that's firing a laser from the aircraft at the target. It reflects back, and the bomb hones in on the laser-guided (target). They're both very similar accuracy."
Defence officials say the mere threat of air strikes disrupted the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or I-S, even before bombs were dropped.
But the National Security Institute director and former Chief of Army, Professor Peter Leahy, says air forces will also be useful in the longer term.
"Air power can put a ring of steel** around ISIS. It can stop their maneouvre, it can stop them moving across broad parts of the country and attacking other cities. So they have gone to cover, and that was to be expected. But eventually, when the Iraqi army gets into place and can launch against these cities that are being captured and get in amongst ISIS, it's actually a disadvantage for them (ISIS), because they'll have to stay there. They won't be able to retreat somewhere else."
Australia is also expected to put 200 special-forces people on the ground in Iraq to advise and assist the Iraqi army.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says they will be stationed at battalion level and will not be involved in combat or independent operations.
Peter Leahy says that means Australian troops will be five to 10 kilometres from the frontline, will only use weapons to defend themselves and will not go on missions like patrols.
Instead, he says, they will be supporting Iraqi soldiers.
"Providing information that might come from intelligence sources that the Iraqis don't routinely have access to, helping them with some of the planning, looking over their battle plans to say, 'Well, there are other ways of doing this, and, if we can provide you support, this is the best way of doing it.'"
Australia's special forces also have the job of strengthening the Iraqi army's leadership ranks.
They are expected to help build confidence and discipline among junior and mid-ranking officers to prevent a repeat of the military collapses that let I-S take major cities and towns.
Retired Major General Jim Molan predicts there will be about 10 Australian soldiers per Iraqi batallion of around 800.
He says the special forces should be effective in boosting morale.
"When the young Iraqi soldiers go out, like any soldier in the world, you don't want to be hung out to dry*** with incompetent commanders, with insufficient fire support, against people who are likely to kill you very, very quickly. So our soldiers being in the middle of a batallion will give confidence to the young soldiers that they've got a chance of getting Western intelligence into that batallion, they'll get the logistics, these Westerners will be advising their commanders on how best to fight, and they will be assisting the Iraqis to bring fire support down, which will enable the young Iraqi soldiers to be brave and not to run away."
Australia's air-and-ground commitment is open-ended, with the stated goal of disrupting and degrading IS.
The Prime Minister admits it is a dangerous mission.
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