Think you're a badass? This guy has his own air force...

dravnx

dravnx

Well-known member
Aggressor force, pilot training, maintenance and aerial refueling have been contracted out for a long time by our military.
 
Slow Goat

Slow Goat

Fun Junkie
Read that yesterday (thx, Googlenews)... Whole lotta awesome there. Those military contracts must pay, jets with current tech in flying condition have to be $$$$$$.

Reminds me of Jacques Littlefield who bought and restored hundreds of tanks and mobile artillery. Always wanted to go visit his place but he died in ‘09 and they were auctioned off.
 
Beanzy

Beanzy

Wind free
RAAF -- Australian, not British.

And he owns some of the sexiest aircraft ever built, and then gets paid to simulate aerial combat with our young Navy pilots. Dang.
 
Eldritch

Eldritch

is insensitive
I wonder how many Billion it took to invest in those toys. Must be cool to work for that dude as a pilot.
 
NorCalAthlete

NorCalAthlete

O_o
Right? I'm like, how tf did he even get started with that? They only mention he jumped through some hoops in 1994 and I'm like "ok, so how much did he start with in 1994 then..."
 
Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
He might not have much competition, dude just had the balls to put it together. After that it becomes a license to print money with fat government contracts that he probably doesn't even have to bid on but just submits a price for.
 
Enchanter

Enchanter

Ghost in The Machine
Staff member
Yes, the financial ability is to do this is quite impressive. I'm more impressed with his standing with the US Govt.

Our government can veto the sale of military assets that we've sold to our allies. This deal had to be in the works for a very long time, and I can't imagine the hoops Dude had to jump through, clearances he had to pass, etc. to be able to purchase the jets.

Onto the jets:
These are A + B models with very old technology. There is a reason the US doesn't fly them anymore. The article also states that the gun is being left in the jet. I'll believe that when I see it.
 
Enchanter

Enchanter

Ghost in The Machine
Staff member
Blankpage said:
He might not have much competition, dude just had the balls to put it together. After that it becomes a license to print money with fat government contracts that he probably doesn't even have to bid on but just submits a price for.
Click to expand...

There are 4-6 civilian organizations in the business of providing red air (Hunters, Skyhawks, Tigers, Hornets). It's competitive and bids are placed / required.
 
littlebeast

littlebeast

get it while it's easy
Blankpage said:
He might not have much competition, dude just had the balls to put it together. After that it becomes a license to print money with fat government contracts that he probably doesn't even have to bid on but just submits a price for.
Click to expand...

i spent a lot of years in DoD contracting, and there are three very prominent features of it - 1) it is a highly prescribed process (the manual outlining the regulations in printed form is 2” thick - small print), 2) full transparency (you can’t even place a bid without disclosing and justifying every dime of expense, including overhead and margin), and 3) EVERYTHING is competively bid, and the margins are low to the point of being ridiculous (3% or below is average, and 6% is high - compare that to commercial goods and services and it would make your head spin - average is probably 30%, but there are categories that go WAY higher). and WRT defense contracting, it is not unusual for companies to bid at or below cost just to win the business in the hope of either imbedding their technology that may be leveraged for future business, or increasing the utilization of assets that would otherwise sit idle - and similar to pretty much everything the DoD contracts for, it’s not like there is a huge customer base for air-to-air combat training using technology restricted by the US government. bottom line, the DoD has and exercises a lot of leverage. yeah - he’s likely making money even at low margin on a few billion in business - but i’m guessing he’s a hardware junkie, and in it more for the thrill than the cash. in my experience, most in similar positions can best be described as ‘boys with toys’. in that regard, not much can match the thrill of military hardware.

Enchanter said:
There are 4-6 civilian organizations in the business of providing red air (Hunters, Skyhawks, Tigers, Hornets). It's competitive and bids are placed / required.
Click to expand...

yup. his company’s most recent multi-year award was split between multiple bidders.
 
Last edited:
Climber

Climber

Well-known member
When my brother, an F-15 pilot got re-trained after cycling to desk duty back to flying duty, he told me it cost $3-4 Million to re-train him. That's taking into consideration fuel, support personnel, maintenance, etc.

Buying, filling and maintaining fighter jets is a very expensive business. This guy's contracts must be worth $$$$$$.
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
Beauregard said:
There are not a whole lot of dudes I think are cooler than me... this dude is by factors of ten: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...vate-air-force-after-buying-46-f-a-18-hornets

Cliff notes: dude bought multiple squadrons of British RAF F18 Hornets (36 working planes plus 8 non-running and all the spares) and he's hiring them out as bad guys for simulated attacks against US targets.
Click to expand...

I was hoping to read about the pilots.

But maybe skimming the article I missed it.
 
Enchanter

Enchanter

Ghost in The Machine
Staff member
GAJ said:
I was hoping to read about the pilots.

But maybe skimming the article I missed it.
Click to expand...

They are almost exclusively former (mostly US) fighter pilots. Many of my past squadron mates have flown / are flying with various red-air providers.
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
Enchanter said:
They are almost exclusively former (mostly US) fighter pilots. Many of my past squadron mates have flown / are flying with various red-air providers.
Click to expand...

I assumed that to be the case but was interested in their relative ages and their work post military before landing this gig in, I assume, retirement or can they make enough doing this that it's an actual good paying job?

In any event, they must be in seventh heaven.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top