Thu, Oct 09, 2003
"We're Trying To Prevent These Airstrips From Ever Being Used
Again"
Brazil has taken to aerial attacks
to prevent drug smugglers from basing in the Amazon jungle. It's a
pilot project, so to speak, aimed at curing the use of remote
airfields deep in the Amazon Basin.
For a long time, when Brazilian federal police spotted a
suspected drug-smuggling strip, they marched into the jungle, wired
it with explosives and blew it up. But drug traffickers would then
round up laborers, march them into the jungle and repair the
damage. The joint operation between federal police and the
Brazilian Air Force is aimed at making the airstrips
unrepairable.
The strikes began this year with an attack on a landing strip
near Brazil's border with Suriname. An attack planned for later
this month will be the first in the northwest region of Brazil's
Amazon known as "the dog's head", police said.
As part of joint operations between the federal police and air
force, Brazil last month began surveillance of the dog's head using
its airborne Amazon Vigilance System. The system gives police
information to locate landing strips and track planes transporting
Colombian drugs across Brazil into Guyana, Suriname and French
Guiana on the way to markets in Europe and the United States.
At least a week ahead of the airborne assaults, police will raid
the landing strip areas with sufficient force to outnumber any
forces protecting the jungle air strips, police said. Agents then
secure the strips and also work with local Indians to ensure they
stay away from the area targeted for airstrikes. Then they act as
FACs (Forward Air Controllers) to guide the airstrikes.
More News
Very High Frequency The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/ground voi>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Suppliers Association Established February 25, 1993, the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA), based in Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association, repre>[...]
Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]
From 2021 (YouTube Version): Colorado Campus Offers aVariety Of Aerospace Entertainment And Education Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight is the second location for the Wi>[...]
Also: Paramotor Champ's, Electric Ultralight, ICON BK Update, Burt Rutan at Oshkosh! The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway >[...]