Draken International: Air Force for Rent.
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- Explore the rise of Draken International, a real-life private military air force with a massive fleet and global contracts. Discover how they shape military training and the world's defense landscape.
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Calling it right now: a group clearly inspired by Draken International is going to have a major role in a future Ace Combat game.
Already happened with AC3 being a Cyberpunk CORPWAR
Imagine rusiaa hire them (with shell copmany
There is a game called Project Wingman that has you play as an air mercenary.
AC3 and Project Wingman already have you covered (Wingman more so since you are under a merc company the entire game).
Also, the main characters in Ace Combat Zero were also mercenaries, though not part of any specific company.
More like Draken was inspired by AC:Zero
Is the cure to male loneliness starting a PMC air force with the boys?
nah its retaking Constantinople
@@legionx4046 Suit up! We fly at dawn.
Yes. Men improve their mental health dramatically when they take part in activities that involve exercise, weaponry, construction, engineering and other related hobbies and lines of work considered "masculine".
Yes.
@DR3ADER1 is that a problem?
The fact he has his own mig-29 makes me think of him as some sort of Ace Combat boss battle 💀
...and now Jared Isaacman is the first private citizen to do a Spacewalk in history.
@@Seastallion he’s 100 percent gonna become like mihaly
@@theanglosaxon6002dont tempt it. Someone will come say his full name.
@@madkoala2130 Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage
@@simply_kenetic4915 god damit
Draken has a operation in my town, got to go into their hanger once!
Same. I got to got to the Lakeland HQ. They had tons of spare parts.
@@steveaustin2686 Same bud! The bar upstairs is very neat 👌
@timothyvalvo900 I didn't get to go to the bar, as I'm a lowly scrub. ;) We walked through a bay with lots of parts and did a photo shoot with my company in front of some of their fighter jets.
@@steveaustin2686 I was the lowest scrub at that point 🤣 was merly delivering pizza.
From Draken International's Wikipedia entry. They have the following.
13 A-4K Skyhawks
23 L-159E ALCA
21 Dassault Mirage F1
25 MiG-21bis
12 Atlas Cheetah
24 F-16 Fighting Falcons
15 Dassault Falcon 20
They probably make more money as a training force.
holy shit! who gave them the f-16
Theres at least 5 Dassult Falcon 20's at my local base We also have some of the L-159E Alcas at my local Base. see them everyday think there training Ukrainian pilots.
@@minecraftwater854490% sure some of them are old Isreali birds
Next on the list:
Some form of aircraft carrier if not converting a civilian ship into a carrier.
Surprised they dont have harriers. Would be dope for a small carrier pmc force. If they got that kind of money to maintain all those aircraft and pay all the folks running and flying etc i wonder how theyd handle ukraine if they were paid to help. Or can they help without crossing some international bs law.
So, Tom Clancy’s Hawks?
Hawx. But yes.
Minus Adrian De Winter, but yes.
God bless your bringing up that game
are we just gonna forget ace combat? Like HAWX wasn't just a straight ripoff of the concept?
@thej3389 it may not of had the most ground breaking controls or features but the story was pretty good and I played it through multiple times. A definite solid entry in air combat games.
Draken had no plans for world conquest........until Fact Boy planted the seed!
Hate to admit when I ran the title I thought these guys did bombing runs for warlords and dictators. Kinda nice to see guys who are just trainers.
The 12 year old inside me can't help but get excited at the prospect of an evil mercenary air force owned by evil corpos, and flown by a rag-tag cadre of sociopathic, PTSD-ridden veteran pilots. It would be straight from a comic book or video game.
"what does the world look like if countries could rent a private airforce and use it as a highest bidder see's fit"
Project Wingman got that covered with the sky going ORANGE
To be fair, it wasn't the mercenaries doing that. Feds had a fit that they were losing a territory and decided that if they couldn't have it, they'd break it.
@@SovereignwindVODs thats what i mean, pushed too far by mercs better than them and the country invading it might just push a "button"
I used to watch these boys when i was a c-130 mechanic im the marine corp. Them boys were the talk of the town when they rolled in.
Draken means "The Dragon" in Swedish, if you need another reason to think it has a cool name
Draken was one of our old attack aircraft.
@@SusCalvin Interceptor actually, based on the principals of the Avro Arrow, but y'know, actually cheap.
@@SusCalvin Saab 35 was not an attack aircraft! Men godt forsøgt...
You mean to say Drekone
@@dallesamllhals9161 Huh, Ø is not something you see in the swedish language.
I feel like this company has pricing tiers:
Basic tier: MiG-21
Pro tier: Mirage F1
Gold tier: F-16 and full technical support
Diamond: pilot feet pics
@@RaytheonTechnologies_Official link it dog
@@FreeFallingAir why would I share it with you? I EARNED them feet pics
How can I buy a raid on my landlord house?
😅
@@brandonbuckles826 Very carefully
Dont bother.....it would cost you more than your backrent 😊
It would cost you your 🏠 on top of the price lol
@@yubakrarai very carefully
>
Worked with some of these guys when I was at Mountain Home AFB. L-139s and Mirage F1s, I remember them using the callsign “BADGER”
Project Wingman IRL going kinda hard. Crimson 1, gonna show up any second now
Strike Commander(1993) Aaw youngling ♥
Do you think they have a squadron called hitman or maybe assassin?
@@captaindonut9243 Wouldn’t surprise me one bit
So, Project Wingman's merc force is a thing?
The Draken pilots and ground crew sits up in their chairs, suddenly a lot more attentive. -Wait, w-what? We could DO all th..... *pilots exchanging glances then slowly starts grinning*
They should offer to train Ukrainians pilots, since they are getting a mishmash of other nations aircrafts that match up nicely to Drakens inventory.
Prob already happening hell prob flying for them
Is this a Ace Combat Reference. If you need a F-15 pilot just call the demon lord of the round table.
Fun fact: The A-4s came from New Zealand on one condition, the RNZAF roundel remain on the aircraft.
The Kiwi is cool. I'd leave it on there even if they didn't tell me to!
“Merryweather for all your private security needs. How can we help you?”
Ive delivered to their hanger in kinston NC a few times, pretty laid back folks. They seem to stay to their air to air training niche
What's their pizza of choice? lol
Draken International have a base at Durham Tees Valley UK which is my local airport. See them all the time doing training across the local area with RAF and various other planes 👌
Also in Bournemuth in the south of England. I live near Teesside airport and the L159s make quite a noise locally.
@@amazer747 I live over Redcar and agree on the noise. Seen three in formation last week and they shook the world around lol
I was saying, because Draken is a mercenary force, it's probable that they've got some RAF lads in there along with the former US Air Force fliers? Especially since the UK isn't doing right by ANY of their armed forces, so why not just go private?
@@Kaltagstar96 Search RUclips for the "Aircrew Interviews" series and you'll see an interview with an ex-RAF fast jet pilot who works for them at their Teesside base.
Excellent episode Simon! You did finally touch on it at the end with the phrase "...in the wrong hands." There does seem to be the tendency to assume from the outset that all PMCs are inherently malevolent and motivated only by profit and have no moral compass. There are a good many of those, to be sure. However, that is not the case across the board. There are those who choose their contracts very carefully and only accept those that fit a certain moral and ethical model. As one member of a PMC once said "Yes, we do get paid for the work we do. But when you are actively improving or preserving the lives of others and make the world a little bit of a better place, when nations and governments cannot or will not for any number of reasons, you are able to sleep well at night." (I paraphrase, of course, as I do not have the precise quote at hand.) So, Draken has extraordinary capability and could potentially be a game-changer in many parts of the world. This does not mean that they would be an aggressive combatant or destabilizing force. Given that they have 24 F-16s in their inventory and would be piloted by very competent airmen, given their typical role, what good could they do in Ukraine? In either a training role, or in active combat, they could potentially give Ukraine some air superiority, or at least parity. Certainly not air supremacy. I think few would fault them for such an endeavor. Certainly Ukraine would greatly appreciate such assistance.
I honestly have to imagine that if Draken were interested in acting like a flying Wagner Group doing bombing runs on foreign countries for their client, they would've surely just gone ahead and done it by now?
The idea is both exciting and scary. Like any weapon, it's all in the intent and usage.
Marcus Licinius Crassus, a Roman politician and considered one of the wealthiest individuals in ancient Rome, famously said that "no one is rich unless he can support an army from his own income," essentially meaning you're not truly rich unless you can afford to maintain a Roman legion..or AirForce
Are they flying SAAB Draken?
No, that's a jet from the 50s, a bit too old for them.
Imagine signing up for a supercool niche private air force, gain your wings, buy the aviators then get posted to Teeside Airport.
That's wild they still have the kiwi emblem on the A-4 Skyhawks
You're telling me Ace Combat is real?
Boy, I sure wish I'd known about them years ago. I'd have loved to work on the A-4 again. I wonder what they pay their mechanics.
Thank-you Simon !
This felt less like telling us about the group and more like worrying about what they represent, which isn't exactly what I expected.
We used contractors (not these guys) to simulate adversaries or cruise missiles or drug runners. All ex military, very professional. Part of the capabilities we lost downsizing our air force. No doubt some very well connected ex Generals are part of the mix. Reminds me when we outsourced pilot training or aircraft maintenance for some fleets. Good opportunities for business if you are connected.
Ho, like that you can use live round without decreasing the army size or cause a diplomatic incident by Shanghaing canadians, smart
@@comlitbeta7532 What? There are no live rounds used. These are just unarmed aircraft flying a certain profile to provide training for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
@@PappyGunnit was a joke, i thought the line about kidnapping canadiens to serve as targets was a dead giveaway
@@comlitbeta7532 Sry you never know when you are online in this clown world
Blackwater had an Air Force with kinetic capabilities in the works but the State Dept said “no.”
Pretty confident that was a good decision to say no
Draken is also a denonym for the Domination of the Draka in SM Stirling's dystopian alternate history/sci-fi series.
it would be interesting to see an analysis of an alliance of mercenary groups like this and blackwater could defeat the venezuelan government like many people say
Ive got pictures of his MiG 29 and matching citation on a stop over in Abilene, TX. Absolutely gorgeous airplane.
PROJECT WINGMAN CAME TO REAL LIFE
I live like 15 minutes from Lakeland, FL and never knew there was a PMC at the airport
There's a documentary on Netflix about Jared Issacman taking himself and 3 others, a geoscientist and science communicatorol who is also a pilot, a Physician Assistant that lost a leg to cancer and was a former patient at St. Judes Hospital and an aerospace data scientist into space with the first all civilian crew. Last week he became the first civilian to do a space walk on the Polaris Dawn.
IMO the major factors limiting Draken's ability to become an actual PMC are a lack of access to munitions and logistics. While combat aircraft are scary and all, the thing that actually makes them dangerous are the weapons they carry. Thus far, Draken don't seem to have the access or means of obtaining missiles (bearing in mind different aircraft systems are only compatible with certain missile systems). Likewise, it would be difficult to ship their aircraft around. Meanwhile, Draken don't seem to have any tanker aircraft or the ability of midair refeuelling.
Nice advertisement for Dreken.
Fun, except for the small matter of Draken not possessing a single live weapon in it's arsenal lol.
Bingo! You understand things. Also, they'd have issues gaining over flight permission to get to a client's country as well as refuelling.
I live right next to Durham tees valley airport where Draken Europe has a bunch of Aero L-159Es and Dassault Falcon DA20. They fly regularly and low on their way out to the North Sea for EW and aggressor training!
Top Aces is big and is getting bigger!
10:42 spit on that thang
Lol. Tapping left arrow at the start of this video is fun.
draken intl might have the aircraft, but for combat, they need weapons
without weapons all that fleet + expertise is just staying grounded
and the real business opportunity is in integrating whatever weapons are in store into whatever airframe is at hand
coz if you can crack that, barring the top few airforces, everyone will be beating their doors down to award contracts
That kept crossing my mind too. Doesn't matter how cool the jets are, you're not going to war if you don't have missiles and bombs.
Damn, Kojima predicted even this
I just love seeing how we are slowly moving to the Metal Gear Solid world
The world's most advanced private air force is actually Air USA, which has a fleet of 46 F/A-18C Super Hornets, mostly to fly adversary roles roles in fighter training missions. Had a company like Draken or AirUSA existed when I left the Navy, I would have put my application in, especially because it would have meant still flying, but no more sea duty.
F/A-18C is just a Hornet, not a Super Hornet. The E/F versions are the "Super Hornets"
@@Mark-zs9small the F/A series are Super Hornets, right? The regular Hornets have the F-18 designation with no attack letter.
Those were As and Bs (legacy Hornets), and that deal fell through at the end of 2023 before they ever took delivery of any of them. They aren't even remotely comparable to Draken. They have a few L-39s, a few Hawks, and a few F-5s.
@@sethb3090 Only the CF-188 is designated as an "F-18" and only internally by McDouglas, all of them are F/A-18s
@@Mark-zs9sm You're right; that's what I get for trying to dash off a comment too quickly. The worst part is, I know better!
Man.
This makes me want to rewatch Area88
Private Fighter Pilot sounds scary. On the way back to the Airbase in a combat zone, with the Patriot SAM’s.
The late dale Snodgrass was at the time their top instructor and member of the management team
So the Quantum of Solace Air guard? Cool.
Tom Clancy’s HAWX comes to mind, I actually liked that game and its story. The book was just as good too.
Israel just pulled off one of the biggest and boldest clandestine operations ever!
Simon, I hope you guys are going to be covering this big time! We want to know as many details as possible.
I live near where these guys are at. Always air Shows with them
Great show!
ATACS is a similar company that recently bought a bunch of F-18's and OMNI Air does private tanker duty.
If you were wanting to do the airborne mercenary thing but didn't want to get shot at, there might actually be money to be made offering airborne refueling services to the world's air forces outside combat zones. Particularly if you were able and willing to offer said refueling services during exercises or long range ferry flights, thereby reducing the air forces' use of their own tankers. Of course if you were able to offer dissimilar training services as well as tankers, so much the better.
As for Draken's aircraft, I'm not sure that their avionics include the weapons' control systems.
And of course Isaacman was in the news and space again this week when he floated out of his spacecraft.
As far as I understand it, these guys don't have any live weapons. At most they would have real missiles with inert warheads. This would tend to put them at a significant disadvantage when fighting literally anyone with real missiles, or even live cannon rounds.
Lmao, I see where Star Citizen found their inspiration for the "Drake interplanetary" ships
They have a big office near me in Texas, I see their Mirages all the time.
I can’t imagine that they have any actual live armaments for their aircraft. That’s a whole different thing to buying up old obsolete military aircraft
Konami predicted with Air Combat in 1995. 90's video game developers were decades ahead of their time.
Komani with this and Kojima with Metal Gear. The bloke tried to warn us, but we took his games as an instruction manual instead.
I enjoyed this video.
Thank you!
They fly from teeside uk almost every day and practice with RAF hawks and typhoons. There has been tons of activity round over the last year
You’re clear, hitman. Monarch engage.
Very interesting video! Although I think the airforce comparison with actual countries, while interesting and gets the point across, kinda makes it look like if you don't have a superior airforce you are literally helpless. Anti air systems can make a difference and some military objectives cannot really be accomplished without land forces. Still super impressive to think a PMC could easily take on the air force of many countries, but still worth taking those factors into account.
Crazy how PMC air forces haven't become a thing yet. I'm sure many nations would pay massive money for a high capable, competent, and elite mercenary jet fighter PMC on call and ready for immediate air defense or air offensive campaign against a hostile nation's air forces and doing strike missions and CAS on enemy ground targets.
CEOs usually casually flex fancy cars while this guy flexes a Mig 29 😅
The same aircraft can have VASTLY different combat capabilities depending on the available weapons, and electronics.
They fly Cheetahs? That's cool as hell
Too bad I've aged out. This would be a hoot.
They have no rockets, bombs or missiles....seems like a huge pitfall. So, they couldn't take on any air force, unless they're kamikazes...
Starfishes still love you
Lol
This sounds like the backstory to an ace combat game
Galm (AC Zero) and Scarface (AC1 AC2) are mercenaries
I love the implication that the west has so many advanced jets that we can sell them to mercenaries, even excluding the migs
So that’s where our Skyhawks went! 😳 🇳🇿
I'd never thought will be living in the world of Ace Combat.
Eisenhower warned of private military and now it's welcomed openly. Ya this wont backfire eventually
Private military since 65
10:31 The B roll is not of a F/A18 Super Hornet.
It's a F/A18 'legacy' hornet.
Please make a video on the pagers and hostage situation. I need to hear the clear cut mind of Warographic take on it
Re the A4 Skyhawks:
Airframes are from the first generation production, if memory serves 1962 or thereabouts. Later purchased by Australia where they served in the RAN as the fighter wing of HMAS Melbourne. When the Melbourne was sold to the Chinese for scrap the A4’s were given to New Zealand, where they served as their only fighters until the New Zealand government decided to discontinue fielding fighters at all. They say for several years in NZ before transfer to the US.
They may have glass cockpits and new electronic warfare suites but a threat to anyone they long ceased to be.
HMAS Melbourne was not scrapped by the Chinese, who instead turned it into their first aircraft carrier.
@@garethbarlow5278 It did not become China's first aircraft carrier. It was studied (intensively) and contributed to their understanding of aircraft carrier design.
@@treasurerFinleyASCwasn't an unfinished Soviet carrier the one that became the Lioning?
@@Mmjk14751 Yep. The Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier Varyag became the Type 001 Liaoning.
Any well piloted and modernized aircraft is a threat. As the video outlined they have all been significantly upgraded and if they were allowed to use modern missiles the last thing you should be doing is discounting them as a threat. But they won't be allowed to carry AIM-9X or AIM-120D3 so the issue is moot. The A4's have excellent maneuverability even for today so are well suited for what they are actually being used for, pilot training and adversary simulation.
There are a lot of old aircraft in non-friendly nations still being used that have modernized missiles and real world not every situation is perfect so even an old MiG-29 is capable of shooting down an F35. An airframe being old or of an old design does not define completely how valuable or a threat it is in combat.
P.S. Those A4's sat in my country for more than just a few years costing a fair decent amount to keep in storage at return to airworthiness capable standard, in our horrible weather/climate for that. This was a sore talking point for a while.
I work next to these guys out of LAL
I love this video, however, it is a shame you didn't cover some of the aircraft more thoroughly, as the A-4K Kahu operated by Draken, which where Former RNZAF really deserves more time in the spotlight given the process done to modernize them by the RNZAF. as the RNZAF A-4K Kahu after there Modernization could cruise just above the speed of sound without the use of an Afterburner and had a modernized Avionics package
Bro Isaacman is literally the main character.
Yay! 8 minutes and I'm already here!
Draken operate out of the airport I fly from. They always wave at us GA pilots as they taxi back to their hangar. But as von Richthofen once said. "It's not the crate it's the pilot." Given the calibre of pilots (training plus experience) employed by Draken, even the Thai's would struggle against them.
I’m applying to Draken.
Good luck it’s not fun
Jared Isaacman juust went to the ISS for the first ever private spacewalk.
Did you guys use the Geneva Convention as your background at 0:11?
Did someone say Geneva?
@@GenevaSuggestionssi believe it was just a suggestion
@@jasperdavis5517 I’ll make it a checklist
*Geneva Checklist
I've read the entire Geneva convention and can confirm! Well spotted my autistic friend !
Tom Cruise knows where Shelly Miscavige is
I doubt many of the smaller countries on this list can compare to Drakken in terms of operational capability.
Draken has more fighter jets than some national air forces.. Not too shabby.
new zealand sky hawks where already upgraded i knew they had been retired but did not know they been sold too a guns for hire company...seeing the kiwi still on the side sure did look like them
Drage min RØV!
Some of us - played Strike Commander back in 1993 😛
Training combat fighters is probably about as close to having a combat role as you can get.
Wondering when we are going to hit the Metal Gear level PMCs.
"Ifff you were writing a military thriiuuuuurrr..."