Mercenary Air Power
The South African-based Executive Outcomes had a number of Hind gunships, source unknown. They were set to use them against a faction in the Solomon Islands when they were intercepted and confiscated (by the Aussies). This had to have been in the early or middle 1990s.
Executive Outcomes had their own little air force back in the ‘90s. I would be surprised if the Super Tucano 314s are intended for Iraq unless Blackwater has also arranged for a supply of Small Diameter Bombs. It’s one thing to drive around shooting the odd suspicious looking Iraqi, it’s another to drop dumb bombs into neighborhoods. Somalia comes to mind. There’s lots more little wars going on than ever gets into the evening news. Blackwater has been sub-contracting Afghanistan and Iraq on the ground and on the water.
Blackwater USA is the “American Foreign Legion” that David Hackworth envisioned (but I’m sure not as a Private Military Company).Instead of the Air Force being forced to buy planes that they don’t want for counter-insurgency missions, the “counter-insurgency” mission can be contracted out to Blackwater. Let Blackwater send their Super Tucanos to take out Colombian cocaine fields or Afghan opium fields & nobody will mourn the loss of life of their “operators” in such missions.
Blackwater, like it or not, is a globalist corporation (a small one, but one nonetheless).Read Bob Shepherd’s book “the Circuit” for a good description of Private Military Companies.
Blackwater is not a necessary evil. There are other mercenary companies around. There’ve been allegations that they’ve won a lot of contracts on account of connections in the civilian side of the Pentagon.
The reputed “Lord of War” assembled a huge fleet of ex-Soviet transport planes for his operations. I might have been little trouble for him to add MiGs to his product offerings. Some paperwork diddling, telling the political officials that airframes were scrapped, then hauling the planes for refit someplace handy (say Pakistan or Israel). But why have a separate force when you can usually find locals to do the dirty work? Selling a warplane is more profitable than keeping it running yourself.
I’m aware of the real-life merc flyboys from the Congo, Ethiopia/Somalia/Eritrea, and Nigeria wars. But those were ad hoc forces, assembled for a specific military need.
Mercenary Air
This morning Military.com has a story on America’s most famous (or infamous) private security contractor, Blackwater USA, purchasing a light attack aircraft.
Report Says Blackwater Bought Fighter (AP)
A subsidiary of U.S. military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has purchased a fighter plane from the Brazilian aviation company Embraer, a Brazilian newspaper reported June 1.
The 314-B1 Super Tucano propeller-driven fighter – the same used by the Brazilian military – was bought for $4.5 million and delivered to EP Aviation at the end of February, according to the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
First of all the headline is misleading. The Tucano isn’t a “fighter” unless you’re a seriously third world air force. But it has been bandied around as a good answer for a “counter-insurgency” aircraft. So Blackwater has clearly done some research (and been reading DT, I have to assume) on the best plane to fight a dirty war. It’s interesting, too, that the company is buying new. Seems to me there’d be a lot more surplus gear on the market for them to snap up — and keep it low profile as well.
It was not clear if it was Embraer’s first sale of a military-style aircraft to a private company. EP Aviation has 33 planes and helicopters registered with the FAA, according to the agency’s Web site, only one of which is from Embraer.
Officials with Brazil’s government and Embraer declined to comment on the Estado report. Phone calls to Blackwater were not returned.
The sale was apparently approved, the Estado report noted, by Brazil’s president in a deal negotiated with the U.S. government.
Brazilian law prohibits the sale of arms to companies or for use in existing conflicts.
It does worry be a bit each time a company like Blackwater continues this arms buildup. Sources tell me they’ve got a “Spectre’-like” gunship already, and they’ve been buzzing around Baghdad in spec-ops-style armed Little Birds. So what happens when a contract with the US Gov goes bad — say Congress pulls funding from a contract midway through the agreement. Will Blackwater use this kind of equipment to come collect what it’s owed? Seems farfetched, I know, but Blackwater officials are downplaying the Tucano buy to curb fears.
The newspaper reported that Blackwater president Gary Jackson said the plane would be used for training.
The plane sold to EP Aviation did not include the two .50-caliber machine guns normally attached to the wings.
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Most, if not all of Blackwater, is made up of prior service and Special Forces members of our military. I seriously doubt they have any intention, other than providing support for our front line troops, dignitaries, and senior ranking officials.
Having Super Tucanos provide COIN and FAC for US, Iraq, and Blackwater is a perfect match. We haven’t had a plane, like this one, available to us, since the OV-10.
Why Blackwater would like an aircraft like this? Blackwater already has a fairly decent Helicopter fleet of Little Birds. They bought a single plane from the looks of the article. It is unarmed, the wing guns were removed. It can fly higher and faster than a helicopter can as well. This is a perfect platform for recon. Most times it can fly high enough to avoid most ground fire, although Stingers and MANPADS will always be a threat, but they aren’t really concerned with those coming after this aircraft.
It will have a small footprint and since its most likely going to be unarmed, it can probably also be used as a sensor platform. I can picture them hooking up some FLIR pods to this thing so they can see bad guys during low light missions. If they are using it for training, it could also possibly mean that they are trying to bid on contracts to train pilots, perhaps Afghani or Iraqi Air Force pilots on their limited aircraft currently available. This thing is faster than most prop plane they would have, but not jet speed yet and would give them the option of using it for route recon missions.
This would be perfect for our Border Patrol, of course armed with the .50cal for deterring infiltration along our borders.
Companies like Blackwater will, and are now, work hand in hand with the US military. These guys are pro’s, and having them on our side is a plus. They are able to do things for the US that official military can’t.
OV-10 Bronco was a twin engine COIN aircraft in RVN. So was the Army’s Mohawk. Then there’s the venerable T-28. These are probably all at the Davis-Montham AFB boneyard in Arizona.
Upgrading to the Brazilian Tucano ( Toucan) will be an interesting answer to close in Tac Air missions in Iraq or supply either the new Iraqi or AFGN Air Forces a far simpler tool for combating insurgency.
Military.com has an article about the U.S. Government buying 8 Super Tucanos for use in Iraq.
