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Private US firm to arm PAF?; read this interesting article
Topic Started: May 27 2006, 02:06 PM (1,555 Views)
Spidey
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...supposedly with Czech L-39 combat trainer jets? But the company has been brought to court by the US government.



As the government tells it, Security Aviation principal Rob Kane single-mindedly sought military jets and was eager to arm them for an ambitious project in the Philippines that could bring the company $20 million to $200 million.




It was Kane, the prosecutor said, who bought a fleet of Czech-built L-39 military jets for his new employer; at one point Security had 12 of the jets.

Kane asked others to prepare a proposal to use the jets for training in the Philippines. The Philippines' government has no active fighter fleet. The idea was to deliver a small air force to that country, Skrocki said.

The planes would be left there, and Filipino pilots would be trained in aerial intercepts, electronic warfare, air-to-ground or sea combat, and other areas including protecting against piracy. Security Aviation, or its subsidiary High Security Aviation, would make either $20 million or $200 million from the deal; the amount varied by witness.

Kane pushed others to meet deadlines for that project, and the acquisition of the launchers fit right into the timeline, Skrocki said.

Kane's wife, Karen, is from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, where at least two insurgent organizations, one affiliated with al-Qaida, are operating. When the FBI searched their Eagle River home Feb. 2, Karen Kane told agents her husband may have hunted terrorists in the Philippines at the request of the U.S. government.

Skrocki repeated defense claims that Karen's father is a high-ranking officer in the Philippine navy, but in reality he owns a funeral home and is involved in the Philippine coast guard auxiliary, a voluntary group.

Throughout the trial, the intimidating-looking launchers -- essentially 16 tubes encased in a gray metal cylinder -- have sat in the center of the courtroom.

Skrocki thumped the launchers several times during his talk, once telling jurors, "that's a weapon of war." Security Aviation employees and consultants who said otherwise had blinders on, he said. Former military pilots who worked for Security were thrilled with the chance to fly fighters again and didn't want the party to end, Skrocki said.

The government's experts said they were destructive devices, fully wired, and ready to fire, he reminded jurors.

But defense lawyers said the government had overreacted. Kane's attorneys, including two former state prosecutors, put the blame for Security's troubles on its former head L-39 mechanic, John Berens.

Kevin Fitzgerald, one of the defense attorneys, told jurors that Berens is "a man in whose wake destruction and even death followed."

Berens is a key part of the government's case. He testified that he asked another Security consultant, German L-39 expert Bernd Rehn, about the launchers and was told they were "good to go." He said he then passed that along to Kane and others. But Rehn told jurors he just meant they could be attached to the planes.

Berens suddenly quit at the end of 2005 then went to work briefly for Air USA Inc. of Quincy, Ill., which had sold L-39s to Security. He helped the company repossess four L-39s, clearing two to fly on Jan. 23. Two days later, one crashed in Ketchikan in bad weather, killing the pilot.

Security Aviation's business was in the open, Fitzgerald said. The company reached out to Anchorage police, the Transportation Security Administration and others.

As far as Kane knew, the launchers had been demilitarized, Fitzgerald said. It was company director of business development Jim Mendenhall who spotted "de-mil'd" launchers on eBay as he browsed for patches to promote the L-39s, and Kane just gave the go-ahead, Fitzgerald said.

And if they weren't, who could blame Kane? the defense lawyer said. There's no clear government standard for demilitarization. One government witness, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, told jurors that determinations are made case by case, he said.

Bundy, representing the company, told jurors they should consider the launchers as just part of a weapons system, like the cylinder of a revolver. The cylinder alone isn't a weapon, and the launcher shouldn't be considered one either, Bundy said.

"This is designed to work with an aircraft as part of a fairly complicated system," Bundy said.

"They have to prove we knew this thing was somehow capable of firing these rockets and they can't do it," he said.


http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/security_av...p-7681380c.html


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jammerjamesky
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Aero L-39 Albatros Jets from Chzech are good trainer platform. Thailand posses this jet also supplied by Elbit of Israel.

I wish SECURITY AVIATION could deliver this units to the PAF. This is already a chance also for the PAF to grab the opportunity.

More power to Mr. and Mrs. Kane on his Aim to armed and deliver the hardware to the Philippines.

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Bakit di natin gayahin ang Israel sa ginawa nila dati. We can seek for more fundings in the US soil thru Fil-Am Communities to enable our Air Force to come back.
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spraret
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More info about this interesting case:

http://www.ktva.com/topstory/ci_3865878

Quote:
 
That military jet was among a fleet of twelve, prosecutors say, Security officials had promised Philippine government officials. The end result was apparently to supply the South Pacific country with an air force fleet. Prosecutors say it was a deal worth up to two hundred million dollars and the reason why within eight months of the old company's buy out, prosecutors say Security's new owner was in such a hurry.



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jammerjamesky
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the Rocket Pads is the basic problem on the Aero L-39.

Let us say they will not permit the Security Aviation to include in the Transfer the Rocket Pads.And left under the costudy of the court in Anchorage but the company can always look other sources and Guarantee the Armed Forces of the Philippines especially the Philippine Air Force body that they have an obligation to look for another source of Rocket Pads of Aero L-39. The Security Aviation can still approach Aero Vodochy the maker of this birds for a new Rocket Pads and ammunition or Else Elbit of Israel the one to supplied L-39 to Thailand.


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Rapidfire
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This could be a landmark case if Kane and his company win. It woud comparatively small arms dealers could deal with the PAF in particular and AFP i general.

But I would like to ask the experts here like ToraTora, Possible, etc. whether the L-39 is viable for the country and whether 200 million dollars that the PAF is suposed topay for the 12 jets is not exorbitant?

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Spidey
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Just in...

Government fails to sway jurors that launchers were dangerous


A federal jury on Friday found Security Aviation and company principal Rob Kane not guilty of all charges related to two rocket launchers that the government said they had illegally possessed and transported.


A dozen jurors had to decide whether the two rocket launchers that sat in the courtroom throughout the trial were dangerous destructive devices, as the government said, or harmless tubes, no worse than plastic pipe that could also be rigged to fire a rocket, as the defense contended. Each launcher had tubes for up to 16 rockets encased in a metal pod.

The verdict came just a day after the case went to the jury. It was a blow to the government, which conducted massive, multi-agency raids on Security Aviation and related companies Feb. 2 after an FBI agent briefly went undercover and confirmed the launchers were still at Security's Palmer hangar. At the time of the raids and Kane's arrest, the government also had evidence from several former employees that Security officials were thinking of packing up the company's fleet of L-39 Czech military jets and taking them to the Philippines.

http://www.adn.com/front/story/7772627p-7685331c.html

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israeli
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we should hear the Air Force's side of the story before we react to this "deal" for L-39s. however, in my honest opinion, this "deal" is CRAP unless some tangible proof goes out coming from the Philippine Air Force itself.
"To secure peace is to prepare for war." - Carl Von Clausewitz
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Tora^2
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Sorry folks, I just woke up.

That guy involved in that court case has to be BSing us.

It is my undertanding that aside from the planes and rocket pods, the package would include training costs all for a whopping $200 Million.

Seems like a scam to me. If such a package had the L159 ALCA and trainer variants, it would be much juicier.

We can just get the Americans to train us for a lower cost through lobbying and diplomacy.

I also don't trust the guy since he seems to be covering for his origins.

Besides, it's something the PAF, under its reenacted 2005 budget, can't afford. We can't even afford to keep more than 4 S211s fully operational. It also doesn't jive with its current procurement plans.

As of now, the PAF is too busy helping fight a low-intensity conflict against more than 1 insurgent group.

It is also caught in the middle of the massive campaign to uphold the legitimacy of Pres Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. While it fights to keep itself out of partisan politics, it is stuck, as much as other units and serivces of the AFP with allegedly being Her Excellency's personal hatchetmen and deathsquad.
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israeli
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wouldn't be a shame if the PAF will entrust its training needs to private contractors? it is just the same as the Ethiopians and Eritreans hiring mercenaries to fly their MiG-29s and Su-27s on their behalf. :armyeek:
"To secure peace is to prepare for war." - Carl Von Clausewitz
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cappelan
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According to this book I am quoting from we had already placed an order for the L39/59

Green W. & Swanborough G. "Observers Aircraft" 1992/93 Edition, Frederick Warne & Co 1992, p 6

"Production of the L39 continues in parallel with the L 59 (Nigeria having ordered 30 and the Philippines 18 during 1991)."
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