Team Lightning, this is the new code name given by Shepard to the squadron. It consists of four Skyraider attack aircraft, four pilots, and a professional ground support team, with a total of forty-six people. Although there are not many There are many, but the cost is comparable to two combat detachments, which can be called a gold-swallowing behemoth.
With Shepard's current savings situation, he will go bankrupt in about twenty-two years. But fortunately, the old man knows Shepard's situation and does not dare to actually sell him aircraft, so these attack aircraft can be regarded as leased goods. , the ownership rights are still in the hands of the Marine Corps, which is equivalent to the Marine Corps reserve aircraft and then handing them over to private companies for maintenance.
In the short term, Team Lightning is unlikely to bring any output to Shepard. After all, these aircraft cannot be used as sparring partners for the Air Force. But Shepard doesn't care. After all, having aircraft is good for him.
After all, the current work of Shadow Company is really difficult to carry out without an airplane!
Since the bomb attack, officials in Washington have ordered that the Medellin Group must be strangled in all aspects. Now Vice President Bush is leading a special operations team to chase Medellin's planes and transport ships in an effort to strangle them. Medellin's money bag, and Shadow Company also has a mission, which is to cut off the source of drugs in Medellin.
Naturally, this task is not an easy job, it can even be said to be a thankless job, because only those group personnel are offended by cutting off the money bags, but cutting off the source means that Shadow Company has to make enemies of tens of thousands of civilians. .
The Medellin Group has many sources of drugs. Venezuela, Peru, and many Latin American countries are potential suppliers, but the quantity of supplies within Colombia is also a large number.
The sources of these supplies are the many farmers who make a living by growing drugs or coca crops.
Their land was originally used to grow various crops. Although the land is rich, due to backward planting technology, low purchase prices of agricultural products, single planting structure, land annexation and other reasons, the farmers who are busy working on the land throughout the year cannot even harvest enough for themselves. Food, and the most important reason for this is the dumping of agricultural products in the United States. In short, if farmers want to make a living through regular work, there is no way they can even think about it.
Therefore, the road to growing crops has been strangled, but the government cannot take care of the livelihood of many farmers. Relief funds and other means are of a drop in the bucket, and corruption is serious, so farmers can only fend for themselves.
As a result, many anti-Japanese armed forces have a steady stream of soldiers, but there are also some people who are unwilling to take up arms, so they do not have many options left.
These days, working for the government is not even as secure as working for a drug cartel. The income guarantee provided by the latter is far more generous and even more stable than the former.
Therefore, farmers uprooted the original crops on their land and planted various raw materials. During this period, drug trafficking groups even took on the work of banks and governments, and they would provide farmers with low or even no interest rates. They provide loans to purchase agricultural supplies, including machinery and other items, and send experts to guide planting techniques. They are also responsible for even repairing water conservancy infrastructure and other tasks that should be the responsibility of the government.
This can be regarded as the lifeblood of millions of farm workers. A large number of farmers rely on drug gangs for their livelihood. If their crops are to be eradicated forcibly, it means becoming enemies with these people.
For others, this may be a heavy choice, but for Shepard, from the moment he chose to become a military contractor, he sold his soul to Satan, so good guys and bad guys have nothing to do with him. , whatever he wants to do, he can do it!
After one and a half months of adaptive adjustment and restorative training, the Lightning team immediately got to work.
The first task they are responsible for is the removal of drug crops in Antioquia Province.
The name of this province sounds a bit strange, but its capital is famous, called Medellin. Yes, Antioquia Province is Pablo's hometown and his territory.
Although the government forces have deployed thousands of national defense and security forces here since the beginning of the war, their control over the entire area is still minimal. Even in other provinces, attacks on police have stopped. At that time, it was still getting worse here.
This is like throwing a handful of sparks into a barrel full of dry firewood and gasoline. Therefore, fierce firefights with relatively low casualties occur almost every day here.
In fact, the government forces should be responsible for cleaning up drug crops, but the government air force is insufficient. Both fighter jets and attack aircraft must be used to deal with the more serious guerrilla problem. Moreover, the number of these aircraft is not many in the first place. Attack aircraft The number is not even twenty, which means that Shepard has mastered nearly one-eighth of the Colombian government's air power in one day.
In fact, there is nothing we can do about it. The iteration of aircraft also means a geometric doubling of various expenses. In the past, in the era of propeller aircraft, we might have been able to maintain a larger fleet, but after entering the jet age, , it has become difficult for ordinary small countries to maintain large-scale air forces. Many small countries in Europe maintained relatively large-scale armed forces during the Cold War. That was because they had to face the threat of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the huge armaments were naturally very difficult. It will be cut soon, let alone small Latin American countries whose economies are not doing well in the first place.
at 0830 in the morning
Wiseman, who had already had breakfast, held a brief meeting with his wingmen, then left the duty room and walked to his aircraft. The ground team had already checked the aircraft's methods and loaded the mission requirements. of napalm.
After Wiseman signed the contract and completed the final inspection, he immediately started the plane and slowly taxied onto the runway.
"Call the tower, Lightning One, please skid out!"
"The tower received it, Lightning One, you can slide out!"
After sliding onto the runway, feeling the excitement in his body for returning to the blue sky again, Wiseman couldn't help but smile.
"Call tower!"
"This is the tower, please speak!"
"Lightning One, please take off!"
"Roger, Lightning 1, this is the CP, I wish you a successful mission and you can take off!"
Hannibal also rushed to the scene during the first mission, after all, this was his mission.
"Lightning One received!"
Wiseman pushed the throttle valve little by little, and then he felt a lightness on the fuselage, and he immediately reacted.
He has already flown.
