Uhhh, the ES-3 went the way of the Dodo bird in '99. And Chavez is smart enough to know that shutting off oil shipments to the US would hurt him more than us. He is a lot of talk, not as much action.
That would highly unlikely......they (ES-3 Shadow) were retired in 1999, but S-3B Viking isn't totally gone yet.
We had a venezualan IP check into VT-9 as I was leaving the squadron a decade ago. I wonder if that exchange is still occuring?
We did a portcall in Venezuela in 1984 while doing presence ops in aftermath of Grenada. A Venezuelan T-2 checked in with tower and asked permission for a fly-by. Turned out to be the other half of the exchange program (a US Navy LT). Not sure when it ended, but it sure isn't going on now. However, there is a former US Navy LSO working with Brazilian A-4 Skyhawks. Brazil is still very friendly to US and a much better liberty port. In Venezuela, the liberty buses had local sailors armed with Uzis protecting us on the ride to the hotel.
Concur...they sure showed how responsive/capable they were if an aircraft strayed into their airspace and wasn't intercepted.
Wartime Liberty Call in Brazil? Yes, sir. Please! And I thought the small, quiet war in the PI was a good deal.
The airplane was probably below their radar and had the pilot not confessed it to the tower, they may have never known it happened. It apalled me when I found out who was flying. Sorry guys, cannot divulge that info but I guarentee you this, it will be interesting. Sundown in December '08
If you have SIPR access, go to the Navy Operations Center page and dial up the OPREP/SITREP archive for yesterday for more details. Other than that, specific details of this incident should be left undiscussed for now.
Ummmm, I think you are reading a little too much into this......this ain't the first and definitely will not be the last time a US military jet flies over a piece of land or water they are not supposed to. And most of the time it does not make the news.
I know plenty of people who have had to debate which "black line" is the actualy black line. Chavez and Co. are always looking for a way to spin things in their favor.....that is what evil dictators do, spin things so they are victimized and plotted against.
Why is it that AW discussion keeps following my JMO course readings? Just finished Law of the Sea yesterday. That's right, JPME actually has a section devoted to Sea-Lawyering. Now, if I could just get them to accept time on AW for credit towards the NWC Master's Program.
And sometimes US military aircraft fly where they are not supposed too, over every black line in the book. I have known more than a few instances of that.......
