A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
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Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#2The temptation to become a Bond villain must be strong.
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#3The temptation to become a Bond villain must be strong.
It didn't seem that long ago that having an island shaped like a skull was a cost-prohibitive proposition, but seems we're almost there.
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#4I'm amazed that this is even possible. I seem to recall that there are countries with unusable fighter jets, because the U.S. will no longer supply parts and expertise for maintenance. The article indeed states: "the purchase does include all of the RAAF's F/A-18 spare parts inventory and test equipment, valued at over a billion dollars alone."
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#5> He now holds eight licenses with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), allowing him to own military machine guns and cannons, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition to fire through them.
Dude is totally not an intelligence asset of any kind. Just an enthusiast.
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#6I'm amazed that this is even possible. I seem to recall that there are countries with unusable fighter jets, because the U.S. will no longer supply parts and expertise for maintenance. The article indeed states: "the purchase does include all of the RAAF's F/A-18 spare parts inventory and test equipment, valued at over a billion dollars alone."
At one point Pepsi had the sixth biggest Navy in the world.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pepsi-briefly-became-the...
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#7Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#8His company buys these things and then has a contract with the Navy for when they do training. So IF I'm reading this correctly, it's not just some random dude buying all this stuff for fun, it's his company and they have a very clear business purpose for doing this.
"He was also one of the early pioneers of the then-fledgling, if not wholly experimental, adversary air support market. In the early 2000s, he joined forces with the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC), which was blazing a trail with their contracts with the Navy to supply fast jet targets and electronic warfare pod toting adversaries that mimic everything from enemy cruise missiles to fighters for Navy and Marine fighter aircraft and Navy surface combatants to train against. "
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#9I'm amazed that this is even possible. I seem to recall that there are countries with unusable fighter jets, because the U.S. will no longer supply parts and expertise for maintenance. The article indeed states: "the purchase does include all of the RAAF's F/A-18 spare parts inventory and test equipment, valued at over a billion dollars alone."
His company is a US Air Force contractor, so I'm sure they don't have a problem giving him parts and maintenance help.
Is this another example of the DoD contracting out something that would cost half as much for them to do themselves?
Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s
#10His company buys these things and then has a contract with the Navy for when they do training. So IF I'm reading this correctly, it's not just some random dude buying all this stuff for fun, it's his company and they have a very clear business purpose for doing this. "He was also one of the early pioneers of the then-fledgling, if not wholly experimental, adversary air support market. In the early 2000s, he joined fo…
Sounds fairly straightforward, but what happens if that business plan changes? If private paramilitary aviation is anything like other private security services, then there’s definitely a market with some pretty deep pockets with questionable motives.