War and Racketeering; An Easy Guide
- Thread starter 7734
- Start date
- Original Historic
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly I see little reason to acquire mercs now, when bluntly we have nothing for them to do and no information with which to plan what to do with them. We need information so we can actually figure out what the fuck, and to be honest having a bunch of Central American war criminals sitting around with nothing to do will lead to bad times.
Himmelhand
Giant Sinkhole 2020
- Location
- Midwestern US
[X] Develop your HQ
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
Definitely being set up to be the spec ops branch of UNICEF.
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
Definitely being set up to be the spec ops branch of UNICEF.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
I mean, to be technical about it you're a war criminal too. Birds of a feather work together, and all that.
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well yes but as command we will be too busy to shoot local men over a gambling dispute and or rape their women or whatever things bored Contras with money burning a hole in their pocket get up to.
- Location
- United States
It doesn't hurt to be prepared, though. I'd rather have the mercenaries on standby just in case something crops up. We're being hired to secure the region/area after all, and we're not going to be able to do that if we don't have the resources in place.
Not to say that intelligence isn't also crucial to our mission. I'd just rather get a foothold established before we start worrying about that.
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sacrificing immediate need to haves for some nebulous concerns about the future is to be blunt again, an awful idea. Being in a sparsely populated border area with Zambia means well, there isn't much to worry about with regards to sneak attacks or rebel raids or whatever. However, what is vital is that we get the lay of the land so we can actual make a plan going forwards on how to integrate ourselves into the local power structures and twist them to serve our own ends.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Develop your HQ
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
- Location
- United States
Assuming that your position is safe without taking any measures in order to make it safe is also also an awful idea. The map itself says that our area of operation ranges from high insecurity to very high insecurity. I'd rather secure our own position first, and then start looking into integrating ourselves into local power structures, instead of going straight to working on military intelligence while our HQ's only real defense is the remoteness of its location.
Besides, we're going to want to have those mercs in place before we start messing around with the local power structures, just in case we run afoul of one faction or another.
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If you had actually read the map you would realize that it references FOOD security. This area is basically arid climate with small villages that can't feed themselves well.
The reason the area can't feed itself is lack of water. However, the area has good ground water and just needs wells and irrigation. This is a solvable problem with enough money. Zimbabwe and South Africa both produce the bulky metal parts needed for center pivot irrigation, and at least South Africa quite likely produces everything else. Buying it, getting it here and not attracting the wrong attention early is the tricky part I would think.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
I mean food security and regular security go hand in hand a lot of the time. You'd get a lot of warm bodies on your side if you managed to fix the food shortages or rolling blackouts.
- Location
- Philippines
[X] Develop your HQ
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
[X] Investigate Local Terrain
Dossier 3: Local Geography
One of the Quonset huts came with a surprise gift: reference material. Beside the folding table perhaps intended to serve as your desk, a stack of four small, wooden crates turned on their sides and nailed together made a somewhat serviceable bookshelf. In addition to maps of the country and region, some recognition guides and the like, a perfectly ordinary three-ring binder caught your eye. It proved to contain page upon page photocopied from a report by some NGO or UN affiliated subcommittee or the like on development potential in the province, with other binders holding similar reports for neighboring provinces and adjacent regions of Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. Not something you expected to see, but perhaps a wise inclusion for getting the lay of the land and understanding local needs and how best to meet them. There's a lot of information to it, too much to read while there is work to do, but the executive summary is at least a good start.
Prospects for Self-Sufficiency: Matabeland North
Executive Summary
Major challenges towards local self-sufficiency in Matabeland North currently include limited access to clean water for domestic use in some areas, food scarcity, somewhat limited infrastructure, and minimal export-oriented economic activity. Tourism, gold mining and agriculture are the major industries, with agriculture largely of a subsistence nature and limited by lack of water. Basic transportation infrastructure is adequate for present needs around most significant population centers, but decreases rapidly in more remote areas and may not be adequate for any substantial expansion of industry. Where electricity is available, supply can not meet the current demand and rolling blackouts are common.
A large majority of land area in Matabeland North features favorable hydrogeology, with large, reasonably easily accessible groundwater reserves and good water quality. Rural communities typically obtain water from boreholes by means of a hand pump, with electric pumps increasingly present in urban areas. Old equipment and poor maintenance has lead to increasing failures in rural water sources, suggesting that new or replacement well pumps may play an important role in future aid or development efforts. In many regions, groundwater is sufficient to supply significant irrigation projects, if the pumps, electricity and irrigation equipment were to be provided. This, if carried out on a sufficient scale, would largely address the province's food production difficulties. For more information, see the included figure or the British Geological Survey's report on the hydrogeology of Zimbabwe.
Food insecurity in the region is largely due to limited available water. Agriculture is primarily of a subsistence nature and often can not adequately supply the nutritional needs of the farmers. Little room for productive mechanization currently exists because of limited infrastructure and fuel availability. Herding, once a much larger component of the province's agriculture than it currently is, can better make use of much of the region's land than plant-based agriculture in the absence of additional irrigation. Current recommendations for increasing food security include introducing center-pivot irrigation or other well-based irrigation techniques, and encouraging increased cattle or goat herding in otherwise marginal land, with modern farming techniques potentially being introduced in the future pending improved infrastructure and a more developed local economy.
Transportation infrastructure consists of the Victoria Falls – Bulawayo railroad line, part of the Bulawayo - Francistown line, a handful of railway connections to communities or mining sites off of the main line, and a sparse network of (often unpaved) roads, as well as a handful of small airports. Communities of significant size are typically adequately served to meet current demand, but little infrastructure exists in remote areas, and expansions will likely be needed to accommodate any substantial new economic activity. Improvements in road quality will be key, and any significant new mining, industrial or export-oriented agricultural ventures will likely be best served by railway connections where existing lines are available in the vicinity. Access to remote rural communities can likely be best improved by expansion of the road network and regular trucks and buses for goods and transportation.
Power is provided almost exclusively by the Hwange Thermal Power Plant, a coal plant run off of locally produced coal. Water for the plant's boilers and cooling towers is piped from the Zambezi River, with significant excess capacity in the pipeline but limited excess capacity in the on-site demineralization plant. Demand exceeds capacity and rolling blackouts are commonplace. The vast coal reserves in the region allow for almost arbitrary expansion of the capacity, given sufficient funding. Expansions to the existing plant would likely be easiest due to the infrastructure and water supply already in place, but there is also the potential for coal-fired plants elsewhere in the province. Additionally, there is significant untapped hydroelectric potential on the Zambezi river along the border with Zambia, and there is evidence of large reserves of coal-bed natural gas which could be used as an alternate fuel. In addition to securing an improved supply, transmission lines will need to be greatly expanded away from major population centers to achieve full rural electrification and to be able to utilize electric pumps for large-scale irrigation. This is expected to be a significant challenge to attempts to improve food security.
Besides wood, rammed earth and the like, construction materials for buildings and infrastructure projects largely has to be shipped in from elsewhere. Limestone and other minerals for cement production, as well as copious coal to fuel cement kilns, are available locally, rendering cement production quite viable if a plant were to be set up. This may be worthwhile as part of a large-scale development plan, but is not otherwise immediately necessary.
In terms of economic activity, expansions to tourism may be the easiest in the short term, with beautiful and well-maintained parkland and Victoria Falls as the primary attractions. Improving access and amenities for tourists will be key. Conservation considerations aside, safari tourism is likely to be the most profitable in the short term, but other forms of tourism are more sustainable. However, tourism has relatively little absolute potential for growth. Once food security is established, excess agricultural capacity may be used for export to the rest of the country and the surrounding region. Development plans featuring large scale irrigation especially may give agriculture a significant role in the future economic development of the region. Given the infrastructure improvements to support it, light industry such as textile production could also have a significant role to play.
The region contains significant opportunities to expand the mining sector. Gold, coal and diamonds are most significant at the moment, with relatively limited capacity for expansion in gold and diamonds but vast and underutilized reserves of coal. Large, completely untapped reserves of coal-bed natural gas are now believed to exist, though making use of them for more than stand-alone power generation would likely require extensive pipelines. Exploitable or potentially exploitable deposits of amethyst, opal, mica, copper, iron, tungsten, vanadium, bismuth, fluorine, tin, lead, silver and mercury among others also exist, with some relatively limited mining already in place. The vast majority of mineral wealth is concentrated in the Hwange district, though some deposits are found elsewhere and coal is spread a little more widely. Notably, the immediate vicinity of the Lubimbi hot springs in Binga district contain deposits of uranium minerals which are so far unexploited, a potential source of income but also a proliferation risk.
Taken together, there is significant potential to achieve food, water, power and economic self-sufficiency in Matabeland North, but an extensive and well-funded development plan will be needed involving significant investment. Agricultural improvements, in practice irrigation or an expansion of herding, are likely to be the highest priority, but sustainable improvement of conditions will require a multifaceted approach, with improvements in power and transportation infrastructure as a major component and expansions to mining and light industry providing a sustained source of income and non-agricultural jobs. Improvements to healthcare and education, largely outside of the scope of this report, will then be able to follow where today they might have limited reach and suffer from infrastructure limitations.
You close the binder and nod thoughtfully. There may be some potential here, if you choose to go that route.
Prospects for Self-Sufficiency: Matabeland North
Executive Summary
Major challenges towards local self-sufficiency in Matabeland North currently include limited access to clean water for domestic use in some areas, food scarcity, somewhat limited infrastructure, and minimal export-oriented economic activity. Tourism, gold mining and agriculture are the major industries, with agriculture largely of a subsistence nature and limited by lack of water. Basic transportation infrastructure is adequate for present needs around most significant population centers, but decreases rapidly in more remote areas and may not be adequate for any substantial expansion of industry. Where electricity is available, supply can not meet the current demand and rolling blackouts are common.
A large majority of land area in Matabeland North features favorable hydrogeology, with large, reasonably easily accessible groundwater reserves and good water quality. Rural communities typically obtain water from boreholes by means of a hand pump, with electric pumps increasingly present in urban areas. Old equipment and poor maintenance has lead to increasing failures in rural water sources, suggesting that new or replacement well pumps may play an important role in future aid or development efforts. In many regions, groundwater is sufficient to supply significant irrigation projects, if the pumps, electricity and irrigation equipment were to be provided. This, if carried out on a sufficient scale, would largely address the province's food production difficulties. For more information, see the included figure or the British Geological Survey's report on the hydrogeology of Zimbabwe.
Food insecurity in the region is largely due to limited available water. Agriculture is primarily of a subsistence nature and often can not adequately supply the nutritional needs of the farmers. Little room for productive mechanization currently exists because of limited infrastructure and fuel availability. Herding, once a much larger component of the province's agriculture than it currently is, can better make use of much of the region's land than plant-based agriculture in the absence of additional irrigation. Current recommendations for increasing food security include introducing center-pivot irrigation or other well-based irrigation techniques, and encouraging increased cattle or goat herding in otherwise marginal land, with modern farming techniques potentially being introduced in the future pending improved infrastructure and a more developed local economy.
Transportation infrastructure consists of the Victoria Falls – Bulawayo railroad line, part of the Bulawayo - Francistown line, a handful of railway connections to communities or mining sites off of the main line, and a sparse network of (often unpaved) roads, as well as a handful of small airports. Communities of significant size are typically adequately served to meet current demand, but little infrastructure exists in remote areas, and expansions will likely be needed to accommodate any substantial new economic activity. Improvements in road quality will be key, and any significant new mining, industrial or export-oriented agricultural ventures will likely be best served by railway connections where existing lines are available in the vicinity. Access to remote rural communities can likely be best improved by expansion of the road network and regular trucks and buses for goods and transportation.
Power is provided almost exclusively by the Hwange Thermal Power Plant, a coal plant run off of locally produced coal. Water for the plant's boilers and cooling towers is piped from the Zambezi River, with significant excess capacity in the pipeline but limited excess capacity in the on-site demineralization plant. Demand exceeds capacity and rolling blackouts are commonplace. The vast coal reserves in the region allow for almost arbitrary expansion of the capacity, given sufficient funding. Expansions to the existing plant would likely be easiest due to the infrastructure and water supply already in place, but there is also the potential for coal-fired plants elsewhere in the province. Additionally, there is significant untapped hydroelectric potential on the Zambezi river along the border with Zambia, and there is evidence of large reserves of coal-bed natural gas which could be used as an alternate fuel. In addition to securing an improved supply, transmission lines will need to be greatly expanded away from major population centers to achieve full rural electrification and to be able to utilize electric pumps for large-scale irrigation. This is expected to be a significant challenge to attempts to improve food security.
Besides wood, rammed earth and the like, construction materials for buildings and infrastructure projects largely has to be shipped in from elsewhere. Limestone and other minerals for cement production, as well as copious coal to fuel cement kilns, are available locally, rendering cement production quite viable if a plant were to be set up. This may be worthwhile as part of a large-scale development plan, but is not otherwise immediately necessary.
In terms of economic activity, expansions to tourism may be the easiest in the short term, with beautiful and well-maintained parkland and Victoria Falls as the primary attractions. Improving access and amenities for tourists will be key. Conservation considerations aside, safari tourism is likely to be the most profitable in the short term, but other forms of tourism are more sustainable. However, tourism has relatively little absolute potential for growth. Once food security is established, excess agricultural capacity may be used for export to the rest of the country and the surrounding region. Development plans featuring large scale irrigation especially may give agriculture a significant role in the future economic development of the region. Given the infrastructure improvements to support it, light industry such as textile production could also have a significant role to play.
The region contains significant opportunities to expand the mining sector. Gold, coal and diamonds are most significant at the moment, with relatively limited capacity for expansion in gold and diamonds but vast and underutilized reserves of coal. Large, completely untapped reserves of coal-bed natural gas are now believed to exist, though making use of them for more than stand-alone power generation would likely require extensive pipelines. Exploitable or potentially exploitable deposits of amethyst, opal, mica, copper, iron, tungsten, vanadium, bismuth, fluorine, tin, lead, silver and mercury among others also exist, with some relatively limited mining already in place. The vast majority of mineral wealth is concentrated in the Hwange district, though some deposits are found elsewhere and coal is spread a little more widely. Notably, the immediate vicinity of the Lubimbi hot springs in Binga district contain deposits of uranium minerals which are so far unexploited, a potential source of income but also a proliferation risk.
Taken together, there is significant potential to achieve food, water, power and economic self-sufficiency in Matabeland North, but an extensive and well-funded development plan will be needed involving significant investment. Agricultural improvements, in practice irrigation or an expansion of herding, are likely to be the highest priority, but sustainable improvement of conditions will require a multifaceted approach, with improvements in power and transportation infrastructure as a major component and expansions to mining and light industry providing a sustained source of income and non-agricultural jobs. Improvements to healthcare and education, largely outside of the scope of this report, will then be able to follow where today they might have limited reach and suffer from infrastructure limitations.
You close the binder and nod thoughtfully. There may be some potential here, if you choose to go that route.
GM NOTEs OF IMPORTANCE
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
This is gonna be the 'megapost' of all GM notes. If you have a ruling question, check here.
INFORMATIONAL THREADMARKS VS. APOCRYPHA
Anything posted in Informational is GM produced, and has a GM Seal of Assurance on it that it is produced to the best of your character's knowledge. Information in Apocrypha has no such guarantees, even though it may be as accurate or more accurate than some GM provided materials.
Yes I will threadmark any and all good posts that are relevant into Apocrypha, as long as they are made with information that MC has available.
Edit 1: For the near future, votes will be called on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
INFORMATIONAL THREADMARKS VS. APOCRYPHA
Anything posted in Informational is GM produced, and has a GM Seal of Assurance on it that it is produced to the best of your character's knowledge. Information in Apocrypha has no such guarantees, even though it may be as accurate or more accurate than some GM provided materials.
Yes I will threadmark any and all good posts that are relevant into Apocrypha, as long as they are made with information that MC has available.
Edit 1: For the near future, votes will be called on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
Last edited:
- Location
- America
Right, so what I think is that regardless of what kind of mercenaries we get, we should make our HQ one of the smaller rural airports or acquire one as soon as possible. If we need some politically sensitive shipments to be made, a small low flying aircraft would be ideal. Setting up near a town might make obtaining resources easier, but it's also harder to ship in more questionable stuff by rail unless we buy out the relevant government officials, the company, or the train, and that's gonna be way more expensive than maybe one or two twin otters.
Anybody know where we might be able to find one of those?
Anybody know where we might be able to find one of those?
Right now, we've got a rough trail across the border to Botswana and we are mostly getting supplies by horse or mule cart. We also maybe have some limited ability to smuggle things from Zambia across the Zambezi river by boat, but it's too well patrolled to do all that much with it. That's where our supplies currently come from. We could add a grass strip where we are without a huge amount of trouble.
If we want to connect up more properly to Zimbabwe's existing transport infrastructure, I think the best way to do it might be with a front company. Maybe a safari lodge, since that makes sense for the region and justifies small quantities of many of the things we'd want beyond basic supplies, such as weapons, ammo and all-terrain vehicles. If we set something like that up for real, minus the actual customers of course, it's also a ready made base with every reason to have much of the infrastructure we'd want, sketchy armed foreigners hanging around, and its own grass strip runway. Alternately, we could use a front company to get an early start on development plans, with shipping/smuggling benefits as a bonus.
Victoria Falls International Airport is our closest airport with a paved runway. It's a hell of a lot smaller than the name makes it sound, but it's got a 4,000 m paved runway, and it's actually not terribly far away. There are likely grass strips closer than that. Something smaller and without a customs and border enforcement presence would probably be easier to smuggle through in any case.
The closest railway access in Zimbabwe is probably going to be Victoria Falls, followed by the village of Matetsi, which boarders the southern chunk of the Matetsi Safari Area. We're in the northern chunk.
Edit: Fixed an error. We'll be closer to Victoria Falls than we are to Matetsi, since we're in the other half of the safari area.
Another edit: Kasane Airport, Botswana is also close and paved. There's a good chance that's where we flew into before sneaking across the border.
Last edited:
In our case, we would be best served by a mix of bush aircraft and helicopters - first for mobility in the region, second for actual combat, recon and the like.
As to the models - an-2 looks good to me, as it's production stopped in 1992 IRL, it's capable hauling dozen men or 2 tonnes of equipment 800 kilometers away, it's rugged and available in numbers since dissolution of Warsaw Pact & Soviet Union. Regarding helicopters - we probably would be well-served by hiring one of those mercenary groups, providing us their ground crew to base ours on.
As to the models - an-2 looks good to me, as it's production stopped in 1992 IRL, it's capable hauling dozen men or 2 tonnes of equipment 800 kilometers away, it's rugged and available in numbers since dissolution of Warsaw Pact & Soviet Union. Regarding helicopters - we probably would be well-served by hiring one of those mercenary groups, providing us their ground crew to base ours on.
Last edited:
- Location
- United States
[X] Develop your HQ
[X] Hire Mercenaries
-[X] Los Abrejos (20,000 USD/month, 1 company, standard weapon: M-16)
[X] Hire Mercenaries
-[X] Los Abrejos (20,000 USD/month, 1 company, standard weapon: M-16)
Dossier 4: Cargo Aircraft
Aircraft Comparison
I'm seeing the "get an AN-2" suggestion floated a bunch, so I went on an obsessive wikipedia binge and have resurfaced bearing information on useful transport/cargo aircraft. This all basically assumes low and slow is all we need, and a multi-purpose utility aircraft with good rough field performance is what we are looking for. This is not to say that something like this should be our highest priority, just trying to figure out what our best options are if we want to go down this road. In practice, what we can or can't actually get will probably be as much about GM rulings as our preferences, if not more.
The AN-2 has a lot to recommend it. It's an excellent largeish bush plane, well suited to short, unimproved runways and remarkably rugged. Not all that widely available in Africa, but that's a surmountable problem. 12 passengers, which is certainly enough to be useful. No ramp or large cargo door, which is unfortunate.
Some other good candidates:
AN-14: Tried unsuccessfully to replace the AN-2. Seats 8. Good STOL performance. Rarer than the AN-2, and very few in Africa.
BN-2 Islander: A utility and transport aircraft with room for 9 passengers widely used as a regional airliner. Decent STOL performance and can operate off of a fairly rough runway, but not really a bush plane. Freight versions exist. They seem to be reasonably common in Africa.
DHC-2 Beaver: An absolutely legendary bush plane, mostly in the context of Alaska and Canada. Some variants will seat up to 11, but most seat more like 7. Can carry 2000 lbs, and has good sized cargo doors (for a plane its size) on each side. Excellent STOL performance. There are some in Africa, with both military and civil operators.
DHC-3 Otter: A fine bush plane, though seating one or two less than the AN-2. Not too widely used in Africa, but more so than the AN-2. Think beaver, but a bit bigger.
DO-28: A twin engine STOL utility aircraft with only 7 passengers, so a bit smaller. There seem to be plenty in Africa, but mostly military.
Noorduyn Norseman: A bushplane with seats for 10 passengers and similar characteristics to the otter. Very few if any in Africa.
PC-6 Porter: A utility aircraft with 10 seats with good STOL performance well suited for rough, unimproved airstrips. There are only a few operators in Africa, all of them military. A trapdoor can be installed in the floor of the cabin, which is typically used for supply drops or mounting surveillance equipment.
If we want to go smaller, we're looking at something for observation, smuggling small quantities of something or transporting one or two people, rather than a real cargo or transport aircraft. Any decent bush plane will get the job done, so whatever will blend in locally is probably best. Pretty much any of the small aircraft people associate with Piper or Cesna will do the job well.
If we want to go a little bigger:
AN-28 and PZL M28: A stretched AN-14 with various improvements. Seats up to 19. Good STOL performance. At least some versions have a rear cargo ramp. Fairly rare, but some are in Africa.
C-212 Aviocar: An STOL cargo aircraft and short-haul airliner. Passenger versions seat up to 28. Has a cargo ramp and is well suited for skydiving. The US Army Special Operations Command and Blackwater apparently like them for many of the tasks we might use them for. There are a number of military operators in Africa (including Zimbabwe), but no civil ones as far as I can tell.
DC-3 / C-47 Skytrain: Designed as an airliner, but in the 30s that meant sometimes operating off of what we'd consider a pretty bad grass strip today. The oldest aircraft in large-scale operation, with over 2,000 in active use today. Legendary for ruggedness, reliability and versatility. Needs a bit longer to land than most on this list, at least under sub-optimal conditions. Seats up to 32. No cargo ramp. There are plenty of them in Africa, so they ought to blend in and parts will be available.
DHC-6 Twin Otter: A nice plane for short fields. 19 to 20 seats. No cargo ramp. Reasonably good for parachuting. There are a decent number in Africa, but not the most common aircraft there.
DHC-4 Carabou: Good short field performance and does fine on a grass strip. It's got a cargo ramp, and it can carry 32 troops, 24 paratroopers or two jeeps. There aren't many civil operators in Africa, but there several countries that will have just recently phased them out of military service, so they may be available. Not an especially quiet aircraft, and rare enough to be a bit distinctive.
DHC-5 Buffalo: Essentially a slightly expanded turboprop version of the DHC-4, with notably higher cargo capacity and apparently somewhat worse STOL performance. Not as widely available, but there are a few in Africa.
SC.7 Skyvan: 19 seat STOL aircraft normally used for short-haul freight or skydiving. Not that many around. It has a cargo ramp.
Short 330: A stretched SC.7 that seats 30. Most are built as airliners and don't have the ramp, but there's a cargo variant that does. Good short field performance, but probably not as good. Rare, and none in Africa.
Short 360: A slightly expanded Short 330 that seats 39. Also has a cargo version with a ramp. Probably has a little worse STOL performance. More common than the 330, with a couple in Africa.
If we want to go significantly bigger:
AN-24, AN-26, AN-32 and Xian Y-7: Closely related STOL airliners and military transports. They seat in the range of 40 to 50. They are good at short, unimproved fields by the standards of an aircraft their size, but don't expect them to take off quite as quickly as a Beaver or an AN-2. AN-24s and most Xian Y-7s are configured purely as transports, but AN-26s, -32s and some Xian Y-7s have a cargo ramp. AN-24s are reasonably common in Africa, AN-26s have some presence in mostly military operators, the others not so much.
AN-72 and AN-74: A turbofan powered replacement for the AN-24 and derivatives. Similar characteristics. All (or those not configured as airliners?) seem to have a cargo ramp. 52 passengers or 10 tons of cargo. Very good STOL performance for an aircraft its size. There are a few in Africa with both military and civilian operators.
DHC-7 "Dash 7": An STOL regional airliner that seats 50. No provisions for large cargo. Performance not far off from bush plane-like, supposedly. There are a few in Africa, but not common. 4 engine, so extra complexity, and the engine out performance is notably mediocre. Relatively quiet.
If we want to go a lot bigger:
IL-76. A soviet strategic airlifter that also sees a ton of use as a civilian cargo plane. Able to operate from relatively short, unpaved runways, but will still need more than the rest on this list. There are a bunch of them in Africa, many of them civilian. This is what we want if we need to fly a tank somewhere.
Edit: Added a couple more.
Edit 2: For questions about capacities on the larger end ("Can an AN-72 carry a PT-76?", etc. (answer is no.)), see this document: http://www.jofair.com/news/archives/2003-Freighter-Reference-Guide.pdf
Edit 3: a minor correction.
Edit 4: a correction on which AN-24 and AN-72 derivatives have cargo ramps.
I'm seeing the "get an AN-2" suggestion floated a bunch, so I went on an obsessive wikipedia binge and have resurfaced bearing information on useful transport/cargo aircraft. This all basically assumes low and slow is all we need, and a multi-purpose utility aircraft with good rough field performance is what we are looking for. This is not to say that something like this should be our highest priority, just trying to figure out what our best options are if we want to go down this road. In practice, what we can or can't actually get will probably be as much about GM rulings as our preferences, if not more.
The AN-2 has a lot to recommend it. It's an excellent largeish bush plane, well suited to short, unimproved runways and remarkably rugged. Not all that widely available in Africa, but that's a surmountable problem. 12 passengers, which is certainly enough to be useful. No ramp or large cargo door, which is unfortunate.
Some other good candidates:
AN-14: Tried unsuccessfully to replace the AN-2. Seats 8. Good STOL performance. Rarer than the AN-2, and very few in Africa.
BN-2 Islander: A utility and transport aircraft with room for 9 passengers widely used as a regional airliner. Decent STOL performance and can operate off of a fairly rough runway, but not really a bush plane. Freight versions exist. They seem to be reasonably common in Africa.
DHC-2 Beaver: An absolutely legendary bush plane, mostly in the context of Alaska and Canada. Some variants will seat up to 11, but most seat more like 7. Can carry 2000 lbs, and has good sized cargo doors (for a plane its size) on each side. Excellent STOL performance. There are some in Africa, with both military and civil operators.
DHC-3 Otter: A fine bush plane, though seating one or two less than the AN-2. Not too widely used in Africa, but more so than the AN-2. Think beaver, but a bit bigger.
DO-28: A twin engine STOL utility aircraft with only 7 passengers, so a bit smaller. There seem to be plenty in Africa, but mostly military.
Noorduyn Norseman: A bushplane with seats for 10 passengers and similar characteristics to the otter. Very few if any in Africa.
PC-6 Porter: A utility aircraft with 10 seats with good STOL performance well suited for rough, unimproved airstrips. There are only a few operators in Africa, all of them military. A trapdoor can be installed in the floor of the cabin, which is typically used for supply drops or mounting surveillance equipment.
If we want to go smaller, we're looking at something for observation, smuggling small quantities of something or transporting one or two people, rather than a real cargo or transport aircraft. Any decent bush plane will get the job done, so whatever will blend in locally is probably best. Pretty much any of the small aircraft people associate with Piper or Cesna will do the job well.
If we want to go a little bigger:
AN-28 and PZL M28: A stretched AN-14 with various improvements. Seats up to 19. Good STOL performance. At least some versions have a rear cargo ramp. Fairly rare, but some are in Africa.
C-212 Aviocar: An STOL cargo aircraft and short-haul airliner. Passenger versions seat up to 28. Has a cargo ramp and is well suited for skydiving. The US Army Special Operations Command and Blackwater apparently like them for many of the tasks we might use them for. There are a number of military operators in Africa (including Zimbabwe), but no civil ones as far as I can tell.
DC-3 / C-47 Skytrain: Designed as an airliner, but in the 30s that meant sometimes operating off of what we'd consider a pretty bad grass strip today. The oldest aircraft in large-scale operation, with over 2,000 in active use today. Legendary for ruggedness, reliability and versatility. Needs a bit longer to land than most on this list, at least under sub-optimal conditions. Seats up to 32. No cargo ramp. There are plenty of them in Africa, so they ought to blend in and parts will be available.
DHC-6 Twin Otter: A nice plane for short fields. 19 to 20 seats. No cargo ramp. Reasonably good for parachuting. There are a decent number in Africa, but not the most common aircraft there.
DHC-4 Carabou: Good short field performance and does fine on a grass strip. It's got a cargo ramp, and it can carry 32 troops, 24 paratroopers or two jeeps. There aren't many civil operators in Africa, but there several countries that will have just recently phased them out of military service, so they may be available. Not an especially quiet aircraft, and rare enough to be a bit distinctive.
DHC-5 Buffalo: Essentially a slightly expanded turboprop version of the DHC-4, with notably higher cargo capacity and apparently somewhat worse STOL performance. Not as widely available, but there are a few in Africa.
SC.7 Skyvan: 19 seat STOL aircraft normally used for short-haul freight or skydiving. Not that many around. It has a cargo ramp.
Short 330: A stretched SC.7 that seats 30. Most are built as airliners and don't have the ramp, but there's a cargo variant that does. Good short field performance, but probably not as good. Rare, and none in Africa.
Short 360: A slightly expanded Short 330 that seats 39. Also has a cargo version with a ramp. Probably has a little worse STOL performance. More common than the 330, with a couple in Africa.
If we want to go significantly bigger:
AN-24, AN-26, AN-32 and Xian Y-7: Closely related STOL airliners and military transports. They seat in the range of 40 to 50. They are good at short, unimproved fields by the standards of an aircraft their size, but don't expect them to take off quite as quickly as a Beaver or an AN-2. AN-24s and most Xian Y-7s are configured purely as transports, but AN-26s, -32s and some Xian Y-7s have a cargo ramp. AN-24s are reasonably common in Africa, AN-26s have some presence in mostly military operators, the others not so much.
AN-72 and AN-74: A turbofan powered replacement for the AN-24 and derivatives. Similar characteristics. All (or those not configured as airliners?) seem to have a cargo ramp. 52 passengers or 10 tons of cargo. Very good STOL performance for an aircraft its size. There are a few in Africa with both military and civilian operators.
DHC-7 "Dash 7": An STOL regional airliner that seats 50. No provisions for large cargo. Performance not far off from bush plane-like, supposedly. There are a few in Africa, but not common. 4 engine, so extra complexity, and the engine out performance is notably mediocre. Relatively quiet.
If we want to go a lot bigger:
IL-76. A soviet strategic airlifter that also sees a ton of use as a civilian cargo plane. Able to operate from relatively short, unpaved runways, but will still need more than the rest on this list. There are a bunch of them in Africa, many of them civilian. This is what we want if we need to fly a tank somewhere.
Edit: Added a couple more.
Edit 2: For questions about capacities on the larger end ("Can an AN-72 carry a PT-76?", etc. (answer is no.)), see this document: http://www.jofair.com/news/archives/2003-Freighter-Reference-Guide.pdf
Edit 3: a minor correction.
Edit 4: a correction on which AN-24 and AN-72 derivatives have cargo ramps.
Last edited:
Himmelhand
Giant Sinkhole 2020
- Location
- Midwestern US
Speaking of tanks, I wonder what it would take to get sone surplus ex-Warsaw Pact T-55's in service? If it's 1992 I imagine there's quite a few potential sellers out there.
No T-55s, and probably nothing armored at all.
It would have been cool to have armor, but we just can't sneak them in at this time unless we get the very last option on brmj's list.
Infantry is our bread and butter, though getting some technicals to work as our direct (HMGs and various rocket systems) and direct (Mortars) support could be viable. And getting our men on trucks or planes would do wonders to their mobility - just don't try to use these trucks as tanks and avoid getting planes near battlefield if possible.
It would have been cool to have armor, but we just can't sneak them in at this time unless we get the very last option on brmj's list.
Infantry is our bread and butter, though getting some technicals to work as our direct (HMGs and various rocket systems) and direct (Mortars) support could be viable. And getting our men on trucks or planes would do wonders to their mobility - just don't try to use these trucks as tanks and avoid getting planes near battlefield if possible.
Last edited:
Looks like there are literally thousands of them all over Africa, but they are mostly in front-line service and not for sale. However, 1992 is still an ideal time to buy then from former Soviet block countries. The big issue is we have no way to get something like that into the country even if we could buy it. It's not the sort of thing you can easily hide. There are 8 of them that were involved in the Rhodesian Bush War of unknown fate afterwards which may or may not have been disabled or destroyed, so somewhere in the country if we're really luck there might just be a badly damaged T-55 just there for the taking. Of course, it will be surrounded by a thicket and it's rained on for for the last 12 plus years without any maintenance. Good luck finding it or getting it running.
Amusingly, it looks like there are still T-34s kicking around in Africa even today, and Namibia and the Congo have some in storage they might be willing to sell. Not that we would have a way to transport those either.
For the moment, I think our best choice for combat vehicles is going to be technicals, ideally based on locally acquired Toyota Hilux pickup trucks.