Feral Jundi

Friday, March 30, 2012

History: Prime Minister Winston Churchill On The Flying Tigers, WW2

This is neat. I stumbled upon a great post by Defense Media Network about the Flying Tigers and they opened it with this quote. I had never heard of it before, but Churchill’s words are pretty significant. Especially when he compared the Flying Tigers to the RAF during the Battle of Britain.  (which also had a significant amount of foreign volunteers in it during that time)

On a side note, did you know that the Flying Tigers were converted into the 23d Fighter Group, which exists today and has flown in the current wars? They fly the A-10 Warthog which is an awesome aircraft. They even paint the Flying Tigers shark mouth on the aircraft. Kind of cool to see a government military carrying on the traditions and memory of an American PMC like the Flying Tigers. Enjoy. –Matt

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“The victories of these Americans over the rice paddies of Burma are comparable in character, if not in scope, with those won by the Royal Air Force over the hop fields of Kent in the Battle of Britain.”-Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the Flying Tigers.

 

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Aviation: AAR And Supreme Group Crashes In Afghanistan, Seven Contractors Killed

Filed under: Afghanistan,Aviation — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 9:20 AM

There have been two crashes within the last month or so that have resulted in seven contractors killed. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the fallen, and thanks to Ms Sparky for getting the word out about these deaths and horrible accidents. It is another reminder of contractor sacrifice in this war, and our guys in the sky are definitely paying a price.

One thing I wanted to mention in regards to these accidents is that the Taliban are very quick to claim responsibility for these crashes, as if they shot them down. That might be possible, but it behooves the companies and NATO/ISAF to quickly dispel this propaganda if this is not true. I know there must be an investigation to get the facts correct, but that has to be weighed against any benefit that the Taliban might get out of such a thing.

It also shows how important it is that air crews and pilots of these contractor aircraft have some means of protection if they go down in enemy territory. These individuals were killed in both of these incidents, but for those crashes where there are survivors, then contractors must have the means to hold off any enemy attempts at taking them until a rescue comes. I do not know if AAR or Supreme Group have policies that allow their air crews and pilots to be armed, but I highly suggest they do if that is not the case.

The reason why a company should care about such things is that the Taliban will certainly juice every bit of propaganda value out of detained contractor pilots and air crews. Especially if they are Americans. Hell, I could see them taking those captives all the way to Pakistan. So a company should ask themselves if they want that kind of attention, and especially if you did not have policies that allowed your guys to be armed. Or at least ensure an armed security specialist is on your aircraft.

Not only that, but a company should be fully interested in the safety and security of their crews and pilots. You invest millions into the maintenance of your aircraft so it does not crash, and you should also ask how much is invested in your other highly prized assets– your pilots and air crews. From medical training and survival training, to giving them weapons/radios/survival kits, there should be some investment in the safety and security of your people. –Matt

 

Four Tajiks killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan
Feb 12, 2012
A helicopter used by a civilian company contracted to NATO crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing all four Tajik crew members, officials said Sunday.
The crash was due to a technical malfunction, said Mohammad Jan Rasolyar, the deputy governor of Zabul province, where the crash took place.
But the Taliban in an online statement claimed its fighters had shot down the helicopter.
The Russian-made EY-106 helicopter belonged to the global logistic company Supreme Group, which provides services for the international troops stationed in the war torn country.
The company in a statement said that four crew members of the helicopter who were killed in the Saturday crash were Tajik nationals.
The helicopter was transporting food and water, it said.
‘Investigations as to the cause of the crash are ongoing but no other parties appear to have been involved in the incident,’ the company said.
Last month, a NATO helicopter crashed in the southern province of Helmand, killing six foreign soldiers.
Story here.
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AAR Airlift Reports Helicopter Accident in Afghanistan
January 16, 2012
AAR Airlift, an operating unit of Chicago based AAR CORP. reports that a helicopter carrying a crew of three employees was involved in an accident in Helmand Province, Afghanistan at approximately 10:45 a.m., local time, January 16, while conducting operations for the U.S. Department of Defense.

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Cool Stuff: A Swarm Of Nano Quadrotors

Filed under: Aviation,Cool Stuff,Technology — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 3:39 AM

Now imagine each one of these quadrotors armed with a small explosive payload? Maybe even use their larger cousins that we saw being used in Libya. (imagine EFP’s mounted to the belly of a larger quadrotor?) Then use them ‘kamakazee style’ for a massive swarm attack or to support an ambush. In other words, it is research like this that is quickly making this stuff a reality. –Matt

 

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Cool Stuff: Federal Police In Brazil PIT A Smuggler’s Plane!

Thanks to Kyle for sending this over at Facebook. It’s not every day where you get to see a cop actually PIT a plane. lol I don’t think they teach that at most driving courses? Good on them though, and they got their guy! –Matt

 

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Aviation: Contract Aircraft, Non-military Aircraft Losses In Iraq And Afghanistan Wars

What I wanted to do here is put together a list of all of the contract aviation losses in both wars. Thanks to wikipedia, it was easy to organize this and put it all together. If anyone has information they would like to add, or if you see some missing aircraft losses in this post, let me know in the comments.

Also, if you follow the links, they will take you to the overall aviation losses in these wars. In Iraq, the Kiowa Helicopter and the Apache really took a hit. Lots of crashes and combat losses there. But they were also heavily used.

In Afghanistan, I would have thought there would be more losses on both the military and civilian side. The CH 47 was the top aircraft that crashed or was shot down. The Blackhawk was right behind this aircraft. Although this war is not over, and these numbers could reach Iraq levels in a few years.

The big one in Afghanistan is the necessary power to get up to those elevations, and the CH 47 is a work horse for that. Hence why this was the top aircraft that crashed, because it gets the most use.

The total losses for military and civilian aircraft in the Iraq war was 133 rotary wing (with 43 lost to hostile fire) and 24 fixed wing losses (with 2 to hostile fire, and 2 to friendly fire).

In Afghanistan, it is 103 rotary wing (with 17 lost to hostile fire) and 23 fixed wing (with 1 lost to hostile fire on ground).

With those statistics, you get a good idea as to what the real danger is of flight in the war zones. The enemy is certainly a threat, but the environment/pilot error/equipment failure is what causes the majority of these crashes.

Also, it would be great to see our military or some think tank go through all of these accidents and combat losses, and find out if there is a better aircraft that could have been used for these types of missions. Sometimes the best aircraft is not necessarily the most expensive or fancier aircraft, but the one that can perform the job in the worst kind of conditions specific to that region or war zone. A hellfire missile fired from a Cessna Caravan, is no different than a hellfire missile fired from an Apache helicopter.

I guess my point is, are we using the correct aircraft with the best survivability and capability for the job that is required? We lost a lot of Kiowas, Apaches, CH 47’s, and Blackhawks in this war, and you wonder if there are aircraft that could have been better suited for these missions?

The other thing to think about is legacy aircraft for these countries when we leave. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are purchasing and using Cessna Caravans, and that is a great multipurpose aircraft that they could use. It is also cheap to keep running and pretty dependable. But once we give these countries the really expensive aircraft to operate and maintain, then how do we expect them to be able to afford using these things? And even with our own operations and the state of the US economy, we should be considering all options for aircraft, based on the requirements of the mission. It is not against the law to be more cost effective in war, and I have to think that there are cheaper options for some of the stuff we are doing in these conflicts. –Matt

 

Contract aircraft, non-military aircraft losses in the Iraq War
2009
July 17, 2009 – An MD-530F contracted to Xe (formerly Blackwater) crashes at Butler Range outside Baghdad. Two pilots died. The cause was not known.
2008
November 13, 2008 – An Antonov An-12 crashes after takeoff from Al Asad Air Base, killing all 7 crew members. Six members of the crew and one passenger died, three of them were Russians. The crew also consisted of a Belarusian, two Ukrainians and an Indian citizen.
2007
March 7, 2007 – A privately-contracted Mil Mi-8 helicopter from the Republic of Georgia crashes due to technical failures, injuring its three Ukrainian crewmembers, and several Iraqi passengers.
January 31, 2007 – A Blackwater USA Bell 412 helicopter is shot down under fire near Karma during a flight between Al Hillah and Baghdad. A US military helicopter rescues the passengers and crew.
January 23, 2007 – A Blackwater USA MD 530F helicopter is shot down by hostile fire in Baghdad. All of the 5 man crew are killed in the incident, likely executed after surviving the crash. The remaining survivor was also killed under unclear circumstances, when another Blackwater helicopter descended to the crash site.
January 9, 2007 – A Moldovan Antonov An-26 crashes near Balad in the 2007 Balad aircraft crash, killing 34 of the 35 on board.
2005
May 30, 2005 – A Comp Air 7SL aircraft with the Iraqi Air Force crashes in eastern Iraq, killing four Americans and an Iraqi on board.
April 21, 2005 – A Bulgarian Mil Mi-8 is shot down north of Baghdad, killing the 11 civilians on board, including six American contractors, three Bulgarian pilots, one of them is executed shortly after the crash, and two Fijian guards.
Link to Wikipedia here.
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Contract aircraft, non-military aircraft losses in Afghanistan War
2011
July 6, 2011: IL-76 cargo plane, registered 4K-AZ55, was destroyed in an accident near Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. The plane is said to have flown into the side of a mountain at about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters).The transport plane carried a total of 18 tons of cargo for the NATO-led forces at Bagram Air Base.

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