I just spoke to a pilot for Blackwater Aviation(which I didn't even know existed) who told me that Blackwater was planning on buying Boeing 767 long range jets. Several things were remarkable about our conversation:
- Blackwater has an Aviation department that operates Cessna Caravans for use as executive shuttles between their headquarters in Moyock, NC, and Washington, DC, and a fleet of Casa 212 freight aircraft owned and operated by two companies, Aviation Worldwide Services, and Presidential Airways, Inc.
- Blackwater is planning to buy at least two heavy Boeing 767 aircraft for their growing fleet.
We've all read about the enormous profits this mercenary company is making, but the fact that they are going to purchase at least two 767s is simply astonishing.
The 767 is a heavy, widebody aircraft that costs around $150 million per copy, new. That is serious coinage. Even a used 767 is likely to cost at least $50 million, and the ownership expenses and operating costs, depending on usage, would be in excess of $2 million per year, per plane. The owners of Google bought a 767 for around $15 million, but that was without interior, avionics upgrades, or paint, and it was a very high time aircraft--meaning it needs a lot of very expensive maintenance work, not under warranty, to keep it airworthy.
Blackwater claims it operates under the dubious ethics guidelines of an organization called (ironically, I'm sure) the International Peace Operations Association. A cursory check of their website reveals them to be a group dedicated to the exploitation of areas in conflict. Their entire Executive Committee is from military or defense contractor backgrounds.
Blackwater and its many partners, sister companies, and subsidiaries are raking in enormous profits from your tax dollars. They are the ultimate in the new face of the military-industrial complex. War and violence are their stock in trade. They have been implicated in "extraordinary rendition" flights for the purpose of torture.
How much more efficient will their nefarious operations be with a couple of long-range heavy jets in their fleet?