Cash-strapped Iceland to host “private army” – and Russian jets

[Glass]

Iceland is set to give a private army contractor the green light in what critics are calling the most ambitious move by a corporation to perform tasks once reserved for national militaries.

Few countries have suffered worse from the global crisis than Iceland, an island of 320,000 in the northern extremes of the Atlantic Ocean that was once hailed – due to its commitment to sophisticated, albeit highly risky financial services – as one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world. Those halcyon days are over.

Today, the debt-ridden NATO country is struggling to contain the fallout from a massive exodus of talent as highly educated residents flee the island for employment opportunities elsewhere. These dire economic conditions, observers say, paved the way for a mysterious “private army” to assume control of an airbase in the country.

The private military training company, ECA Program Ltd., reportedly paid $160 million to fill the security void left in the country after the US military abruptly yanked its forces from the Keflavik airbase in March 2006.

According to military analysts, the company will purchase up to 30 Russian-built Sukhoi-27 fighter jets from Belarus and base them at Keflavik where air forces worldwide may pay to use them for mock “dogfights” in aerial war games.

The planned purchase of the fighter jets, which are heavily employed by the air forces of Russia and China amongst others, represents the largest single order for military aircraft by a private investor. The first shipment of aircraft is expected in October.

Despite the economic boost it will provide to the cash-strapped country, the project is facing harsh opposition.

Full article..... (http://rt.com/Politics/2010-08-31/iceland-army-russian-jets.html)

[Ponce]

The way that I see it Iceland is to small of a country where to have an army would make little difference, it would be better to have a civilian fast army team ready to deploy in case of an emergency and use those 160 millions for the good of the country......you should have an army only if you have, or think that you have, enemies, as far as I know Iceland has no enemies.

[Johnny Ringo]

Okay, let's get this straight. Some private company is going to buy 30 Su-27s and base them in Iceland. Originally $30 million per copy, some can be found for about $5 million. So there's $150 million.

Now there's maintenance costs. People and parts. I won't even go into that. A Flanker burns over 1,000 gallons of fuel an hour (if afterburners are NOT used), which currently costs about $4 - $5/gallon. Oh, and you'll probably have to pay guys to fly the things. Think they'll do it for $20,000/year?

Now you've spent all this money, and you'll want all these other countries to come up to Iceland to play with you. These same countries that have a buttload of airplanes sitting around, and a bunch of pilots who aren't getting enough training hours due to budget constraints. But you expect them to pay you money so you can fly your airplanes with your pilots in order to train their pilots, right?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't see where this product/service fills a void. Or how it will turn a profit.

[Apparition]

It would probably be more economically beneficial if they withdrew all their troops from Afghanistan and/or Iraq, if there are any remaining, and also withdraw from NATO completely.

[Glass]

I'd suggest this is a cover story to get a private occupation army into the country. Just my thoughts.