Posted on 08/27/2007 4:25:09 PM PDT by Flavius
Security company Blackwater U.S.A. is buying Super Tucano light combat aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. These five ton, single engine, single seat aircraft are built for pilot training, but also perform quite well for counter-insurgency work.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
And...can be shot down with a BB gun....
How many seats?
Yes, a private army based out of the United States with a declared loyalty to our nation and it's national interests.
It has been put to good use by Brazil and Columbia, hunting down drug farms and factories hidden deep in the jungle, and it can carry a whole heck of a lot of firepower.
Yeah, I know. I was just being a smart a$$. They can be ordered either way.
These are great for border patrol and interdiction of light civilian aircraft of the type used for drug smugglers. They are also great for attacking lightly armed ground targets.
Seems like slow and low would work well over jungle.
I looked them up and mostly single seaters.
Looks like Spitfire...
I never realized Embraer was Brazilian. Guess that explains the G-string on the tail...
I’d like to see you shooting at one of those things with a BB gun, while I watched from a safe distance.
Peruvian Tucano T-27 shooting down drug smugglers over the jungle. (Or was that missionaries?,:-0)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHDZqUa0m1s
You know? If I was serving in the military in any sort of special forces type unit, say, Army Ranger, Navy Seal, etc., I think I'd say "Screw re-enlisting!" and go work for Blackwater. Same type of work, much higher pay, no military bureaucratic BS. And you could grow your hair long!
I wonder how many guys are doing exactly this?
Bomber?
They also have 2 369FF's and recently had a 369F destroyed.
A lot of the benefits of the old Skyraider but I’m sure it can’t come close to hauling the ordnance load of a “Sandy”. I bet it’s a lot quieter, though.
In Korea 52-53, the old T-6 trainer was effectively used for close support and yes they came home with bullet holes. had privilege of riding twice to adjust some artillery fire - preferred the OP on ground.
These guys are Baseball & Applie Pie, sure, but technically they're not US TROOPS --they've got all of the CanDO and FIGHT of the US, but NONE of the legal entanglements.
See the irony?
Even as our enemies become NON-STATE ACTORS, the antitode, too, is more and more just THAT.
You are seeing the beginning of the rise of very powerful, very professional mercenary armies.
The first "network war" --very corporate.
I think we should encourage this TO THE UTMOST. And I also see this as the solution to our border CHAOS.
Not bound to be popular, but BOUND TO BE TRUE!
There was a video on YouTube a while back that was taken from a Columbian patrol aircraft of a Super Tucano bouncing a drug plane. The Tucano made numerous attempts to force the other pilot to surrender, but he kept trying to get away from them, so finally the Tucano's pilot opened up with his cannon and machine guns and started some neat fireworks.
Stop that. You’ll put your eye out!
It would be to the advantage of the US to do a significant expansion of Johnston Island Atoll in the Pacific as a permanent base for a professional mercenary army, along the lines of the French Foreign Legion.
As a public-private partnership, ex-US military personnel could be the officers and senior NCOs in command of the cream of the crop of non-US citizen, but “uniformable” mercenaries, such as Gurkhas, Sikhs, Samoans, etc.
In turn, they would work as contractors in support of US military missions of only marginal national interest, or under the operational control of allied nations or tasked to support UN commitments.
The value of this is that it would be far more cost-effective in many situations, both in terms of American lives and expense, than using US personnel.
They could be used as rapid response light infantry peacekeeping forces, transported and supplied by the US military, and would be under far fewer constraints in achieving their operational objectives.
Optimally, a brigade of 5,000 would be able to deploy anywhere in the world within 24 hours. However, in addition to barracks, support and supplies provided to this foreign legion, it would also be allowed to subcontract to any US approved mission around the world, and because it would be a semi-private operation, the mercenaries could be augmented with whatever equipment they wanted.
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