Blackwater beefs up air power, using name of obscure company
Over at Wired's Danger Room blog, Sharon Weinberger today writes about recent purchases by private security contractor Blackwater Worldwide. The company bought a light attack counterinsurgency aircraft, and more than 24 other aircraft, under the name of an obscure aviation firm:
An Embraer Super Tucano was placed on the U.S. civil aircraft registry on February 21, 2008 under the name of EP Aviation LLC. Additionally, 28 other aircraft have been registered to this company, most over the past few months. The list includes 14 Bell 412 helicopters, as well as a number of fixed wing aircraft.LinkWhile Blackwater hasn't advertised this news, neither is it keeping it a state secret (EP Aviation isn't the sneakiest way to hide connections to Blackwater owner Erik Prince). A spokesperson for Blackwater, in fact, confirmed to Danger Room that EP Aviation is an affiliate of Blackwater.
Jane's Defence Weekly first reported last year that Blackwater was trying to get an import license for the Super Tucano. (The Super Tucano's recent registration was first reported as a small item in the April issue of Air Forces Monthly.) But what isn't clear is why the company would register these aircraft under the name EP Aviation LLC.
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Because every despot needs mercenaries to his dirty work for him.
how exactly does American law permit American private armies to conduct international policy for other countries?
Black Water. A disgusting name for a disgusting "company".
Surely there must be a way to pit Blackwater against the Scientologists. Maybe they'll take each other out.
Flying Spaghetti Monster help us if they ever form an alliance...!
Get out your tinfoil hats - here come the black helicopters!
This can mean only one thing. Invasion.
They are registered under EP Aviation LLC because of the LL in LLC. Limited liability. They can also shuffle money around by leasing the equipment to Blackwater.
Man, i wish i could create my own Army, then get paid by one country to invade another country ransacking, looting and killing, all the while being "protected" from liability by the country that paid me, it'd be so cool. Then I'd use all the money i got from looting to buy a new Airforce. I mean what could be cooler then owning your own fleet of Apache Helicopters? Maybe I'd buy some space shuttles next? hmmm...
I still don't understand it. Why can't the Mafia go openly corporate so long as it keeps the murder offshore?
I'm in the military, and I worked with Blackwater in Kirkush, Iraq, in 2006. I've also worked with lots of civilian contractors and State Department types. Nice folks.
Unless you have some kind of personal history with them, I question the source and motivation of your comments.
Ravenwood?
Ok,let's collect a few things about Blackwater from the press.....
"Sen. Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Democrat, questioned Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker about the State Department's recent decision to renew a contract with the private security firm Blackwater despite a September incident in which Blackwater guards reportedly shot and killed 17 civilians in Iraq."
nope,nope, can't use that one. Just greasin' a few sand-niggers don't amount to much....
keep lookin'
W
April 07, 2008
Another military contractor rape
Karen Houppert reports for The Nation about the rape of a paramedic working for defense contractor KBR in Iraq. The details of both the incident and the response are truly nauseating. This is shameful stuff. (Trigger warning -- more below the jump.)
That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand--but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.
Over the next few weeks Smith would be told to keep quiet about the incident by a KBR supervisor. The camp's military liaison officer also told her not to speak about what had happened, she says. And she would follow these instructions. "Because then, all of a sudden, if you've done exactly what you've been instructed not to do--tell somebody--then you're in danger," Smith says.
yep, "good people"
"Incredibly, the private security contractor company officials refused to supply the Congressional panel with documentation, audits, reports and billing information, sighting the information as “classified.” The company officials were evasive, were ambiguous, and refused to answer questions, again sighting secrecy.
Even when Blackwater was questioned as to what occurred with a drunken private security-contracting individual murdering an Iraqi security guard of the Iraqi Vice-President on December 26, 2006, they refused to detail what took place. Although it is known the private security individual was transported out of Iraq within 48 hours and no charges were ever filed against him, incredibly that very same individual was hired by another security contractor and was back in Iraq within six months."
Blackwater is neck deep in murder, rape, corruption and every other crime you care to look for. They get away with it because the same scum that brought you the Iraq war are making loads of cash with them. Oil, guns, money, probably dope as well. They are contract killers.
A scary scenario for you all:
Blackwater is currently doing work on behalf of the Colombian government involving drug enforcement and interdiction. (AFAIK this is where the Tucanos will be utilized.) Blackwater, is a mercenary outfit--what if one of the cartels were to offer them a better deal, say 50% of the American revenue for cocaine and marijuana in return transporting, distributing, and protecting their product. Blackwater owns at least one large airliner--a Boeing 767 if my memory is correct--and has the ability to fly into and out of the country with little or no oversight. Blackwater's officers would have a fiduciary duty to their investors to pursue such an alliance. The payoffs would be in the billions per year and would allow the company to grow in size and influence.
I'm quite sure they are already up to their hips in coke with the CIA.
Being close enough to watch bikers and cops "work together" I have no problem believing the CIA and Blackwater share a "community of interest" with the wholesale cocaine industry. The dynamics are the same, the scale just bigger.
I wonder if I can buy one of those coke subs at auction? It'd be great for island hopping.
Security forces to back up the military I can at least fathom, but why does a private company need fixed wing aircraft for what appears to be an air force?
I hate to sound like an alarmist, but thats pretty alarming...
Blackwater also hires former death squad members form Chile and other South American countries. You know, the kind of guys who like to kill nuns for a laugh. But I'm sure they're good people, once they wash the blood and gore off their grinning faces.
I'm sorry to step on anyone's tinfoil hats but from this article it doesn't really look like they're beefing up their air power.
The Super Tucano is a training aircraft. It's a lot like a Cessna... not exactly a bomber or fighter.
Bell 412s are very versatile helicopters but they're still pretty generic, similar to those used worldwide by police forces, news agencies, private operators, etc. They're usually unarmored and unarmed and aren't structurally designed to be front-line combat aircraft.
They might be using the Tucano to train pilots for more intimidating aircraft but I'd imagine the 412s are just for VIP transport.
I'm sorry, I don't consider an aircraft that has a machine-gun and can fire maverick missiles a training aircraft.
Performance
* Maximum speed: 593 km/h (368 mph)
* Range: 4,820 km (2,995 mi)
* Service ceiling 10,670 m (35,008 ft)
* Rate of climb: 24 m/s (79 ft/s)
Armament
* 2x 12.7 mm FN Herstal M3P machine guns
* 1x 20 mm cannon pod below the fuselage
* 4x 70 mm rocket launcher pods
* Conventional and intelligent bombs
* 2x AIM-9 Sidewinder or MAA-1 Piranha or Python 3/4 air-to-air missiles
* External stores on 5 hardpoints
[edit] See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:EMB_314_2.jpg
you people are feeding this paranoid hysteria. Its fine to be against the war, but these contractors are not the evil charecters you would like them to be to feed your creative hollywood ideals of what mercenaries are. Contractors are just like any other solider and all contractors were once in the military. You want to hate them because they make a decent paycheck but what you dont realize is they have all worked very hard to be able to get that decent paycheck. Just like you should support the troops you should support the contractors, they are the lions in the fight. Its the donkeys in D.C. you should be directing your anger. These men are for the most part responsible ethical proffesionals. The work they do is the work the military cant do or doesnt want to do. They get no ribbons and no cerimonial burial and they are dying just like the soliders. 500 or 600 bucks a day is good money but it doesnt really matter if you arent alive to spend it.Furthermore alot of these men got out of the military becaue of the polotics and corruption of the government/military so a DOD sponsored private military company isnt any diffrent than the military except less propoganda.These men fight for a paycheck yes but this is their skillset. More importantly they fight for each other on the battlefield a commom bond. Read about Irelands flight of the wild geese. In the 1700s over a period of 40 years 120,000 irish mercenaries died for other countries wars in europe. Why did they do this? Its a job first off but more importantly they were willing to fight for the sake of fighting. This is the spirit of mercenararies that is always overlooked. Stop talking about what you dont know about.
for you, child
The Wannsee Conference
ocruadlaoic,
Comments that start with "you people" are mostly ignored by us people. Apparently you're just used to shooting people with whom you disagree rather than engaging in a dialog. Nice skillset.
Im going to shoot you for disagreeing with me! no wait! lets engage in dialog because that always works!, why didnt somebody think of that yet? Lets ask the terrorists why they are bombing everybody and mabey we can get them in touch with their feelings and then they wont hate us anymore! Lets disarm our military and declare pacifism as our official national defense! Whats your skillset dickhead? Being spoiled enough to think that dialoge solves the worlds problems apparently! Guess what though buddy?, men with the skillset of killing are the reason you can think that way. Enjoy your starbucks.