Land of Promise

by James Wesley, Rawles

  The Pilatus factory (Pilatus Flugzeugwerke), located at the northwest corner of the Stans airport, was a modest cobbled-together collection of buildings that spanned more than century of architectural styles. By pre-arrangement the Akinses first toured the Pilatus Moth assembly line, escorted by a young engineer fresh out of college. She was not able to answer some of their technical questions, so she deferred to the Moth Line Senior Technician, Peter Neidhart. He was congenial, spoke excellent English, and his pious vocabulary that included phrases like “Lord willing” and “by God’s grace” immediately pegged him as a Second Reformer. His expertise was needed, so the technician stayed with them for the remainder of their assembly line tour.

  Neidhart was in his early 50s and, although he had a wiry physique, he walked with a slight limp. He was surprised to hear Meital asked him a couple of questions about the Moth in letter-perfect German, and even more surprised when she used the Schweizerdeutsch word Hügel in place of the Hochdeutsch word Bühl when asking about hilltop landing fields.

  The Moth was a fascinating aircraft. Built in both piloted and UAV versions, it was constructed primarily of carbon fiber composites, making the plane both sturdy and light. Its takeoff and landing features bettered even those of the legendary Pilatus Porter. Unlike the Porter, which had fixed landing gear and used a conventional turboprop engine mounted in an elongated nose, the Moth had landing gear that retracted into angular bulges in the fuselage and a stubby nose. A pair of ducted fan jet engines deeply set in protrusions in the plane’s high wing powered it. The plane could cruise at as little as 50 miles per hour for maximum endurance and short landings, yet it could also fly at 580 mph at full throttle as high as 35,000 feet. It had a service ceiling of 38,500 feet and was equipped with brown rubber de-icing boots on the leading edges of its wings. As a 21st century design, the Moth had not only composite construction but also advanced avionics with Built-In Test Equipment (BITE).

  Aside from the plane’s large windows in the piloted examples, the plane had stealth written all over it. Their guide explained that as long as the pilot wore a helmet that was RAM coated, the windows were not a substantial drawback to the plane’s LO characteristics. She explained, “The Moth has a radar cross section about the same as a goose or a swan. But if the pilot were to wear a standard flight helmet, the plane’s RCS might look more like several swans on radar.”

  In 1962 the Soviet mathematician Pyotr Ufimtsev published Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction, which revealed that radar cross section was a function of the edge configuration of an object rather than its size. A decade later, the beginning of America’s first declassified stealth fighter project, then coined Hopeless Diamond, came to fruition. “Hopeless” was unfortunately an accurate descriptor, chosen because of the plane’s poor aerodynamics. This was soon followed by the Have Blue project, which morphed into Senior Trend and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, but that wouldn’t be known to the public until 1988.

  Part of what made the Moth stealthy was the fact that its jet turbine blades were not visible from in front of the plane. This, the young engineer explained, prevented tell-tale radar or lidar reflections. Another feature was that the exhaust from the jet engines was automatically vectored downward on takeoffs and landings, providing additional lift and hence an incredibly low stall speed. She also mentioned that this feature could be selectively disabled when landing on longer unimproved airstrips to reduce the risk of the engines ingesting any debris.

  The crenulated wings of the Moth gave it a distinctive profile compared to conventional aircraft. The “Moth” name was inspired by its moth-like bulbous fuselage and the curved profile of the trailing edges of its triangular wings. Unlike the Porter, which had inherent aerodynamic stability, the Moth was intentionally unstable due to its stealthy wing, fuselage, and tail profiles. This meant that it could only be flown with the aid of digital “fly by wire” flight controls linked to sensors and microprocessors that made constant corrections. Neidhart was able to answer all their questions except one about types of available radar absorptive coatings. To Rick’s query, Neidhart answered, “I cannot say.”

  Rick laughed and asked, “Cannot say, or will not say?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but that information is a Pilatus proprietary secret.”

  Rick nodded and said in his rudimentary German, “Ich versteht.” He did not further press the topic.

  They lingered at the end of the assembly line admiring a freshly completed Moth, which was already painted with the livery of Australian Army Aviation in a contrasting RAM coating. They chit-chatted about the Alexander Hotel Seeburg, and Rick and Meital had a lot of questions about servicing Moths in austere environments, as well as the variant of the plane that had oversized tires for landing on rough airstrips. Their tour guide looked twice at her wristwatch, and the Akinses took the hint. Rick shook hands with Neidhart and handed him one of his gold-stiffened Mylar calling cards, with a subtle wink. His cards read:

  Rick Akins

  Roving Ambassador

  The Ilemi Republic

  e-mail: RickAkins@ii.gov

  Their next meeting was in a paneled executive conference room. Since they were in the market for just a few used Moths and a selection of spare parts, they were surprised to be greeted by the company President. After exchanging business cards and handshakes in the ritualized 21st century German fashion, with Rick doing his best to mimic Meital’s gestures, the President said, “I have been closely following the news on the birth of your new nation, and I’m thrilled that you are considering the Moth for your utility transport needs as well as search and rescue needs.”

  The conversation that followed about the capabilities, pricing, and availability of used Moths very carefully sidestepped any mention of military use for the planes. The company President promised to put Rick in touch with several brokers in Europe and in East Africa that had access to used Moths, and that the latest avionics, rebuild parts, and coatings were available directly from his factory, “…all on short notice, and through discreet channels.”

  Their conversation ended with a humorous exchange about the fact that there were no plans to have a government aircraft registry in the Ilemi Republic, nor any requirement for pilot licensing. Meital explained that private flying clubs would handle all aircraft registration, training, qualification tests, and check flights, and that they saw no need for formal licensure. She concluded, “Ultimately, however, each individual is responsible for his or her own actions and for any damage they might do. We don’t believe in licenses. Because, by definition, all licenses are nothing more than formalized permission, for a fee, to conduct an activity that would otherwise be illegal. But for us, there are very few actions that are illegal, and all of those are clearly spelled out in the Bible.” The Pilatus president politely chided, “That borders, I would say, on anarchy.”

  To that, Rick replied, “Sir, we have a saying in our country: ‘There’s no government like no government.’” That got everyone in the room laughing.

  After handing the signed End User/End Use Certificate and Letter of Credit to the company President, they said their goodbyes. Rick and Meital called for another cab back to Lucerne, and they had dinner in the restaurant at their lakeside hotel, which specialized in fish recipes. The restaurant’s windows looked out on the Vierwaldstättersee. In the distance across the lake, they could see the outline of Mount Pilatus. Their dinner was pleasant. Meital and Rick both had trout dishes, and they had a great view of Lake Lucerne, as twilight fell.

  Just after they were served gianduja (a chocolate-hazelnut tart) for dessert, a hotel clerk approached Rick and handed him an envelope addressed to “Herr Ambassador Akins und Ambassador Frau Ambassador Akins.” Rick opened it and found a hand-written note from Peter Neidhart. It read:

  Dear Herr Ambassador Akins,

  If you do proceed with the purchase of a substantial number of Pilatus Moths, then I would like to make myself available under a
technical contract in the Ilemi Republic (in-country) for at least 24 months at a substantially reduced hourly wage in exchange for eventually gaining Ilemi citizenship. I believe that I can be of considerable service to your new nation.

  Sincerely,

  Peter Neidhart

  (Senior Member of SFTE, Senior Member – AMT Society, Affiliate Member - ARSA, and Companion Member - Royal Aeronautics Society - Avionics & Systems Group)

  E-mail: PropheadPC-6@hushmail.com

  Later, in their hotel room, Rick read the letter aloud to Meital and suffixed, “I don’t know what all those letters stand for, but a web search will tell me, ricky-tick. I think we just scored ourselves another subject matter expert.”

  The following morning they did some shopping before their next train journey. Meital bought several books at an antiquarian bookstore and some jewelry for her mother and sister. Rick also bought Meital a diamond pendant. At another shop, Rick couldn’t resist buying an analog wristwatch for himself. It was a 1990s-vintage IWC Schaffhausen hairspring chronometer with a recently refurbished tritium vial dial. He also bought a dozen pocketknives -- mostly Wenger Swiss Army knives. Meital made sure that Rick bought one with a wine bottle corkscrew as an intended gift for her father.

  The next two months were a blur of military hardware procurement stops in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Israel, and South Africa. They needed to book as many deals as possible before the expected arms embargoes.

  They next travelled by train to the city of Thun in Canton Bern to visit the company Brügger & Thomet to get price commitments on Galil and HK G3 Picatinny scope mounts, suppressors, MP9 submachineguns, and GL-06 40 mm grenade launchers. The latter were shoulder-fired single-shot launchers that broke open like a single-barreled shotgun.

  They then traveled to Bern to visit the headquarters of RUAG Ammotec, and place an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for small arms ammunition and hand grenades. They planned to purchase millions of rounds of ammunition, from 9mm pistol cartridges up to .50 BMG, but the quantities still needed following their initial purchases had not yet been determined. The company’s civilian ammo brands were Geco, Rottweil, and RWS. But their generic military ammunition (in ball, tracer, and API varieties) is what they bought first. This included 15 million rounds of 5.56mm NATO, 10 million rounds of 7.62mm NATO, and 1.5 million rounds of .50 BMG. This included some 200,000 each of the more versatile API and APIT varieties. They also ordered a few thousand rounds of exotic (and expensive) explosive Raufoss ammunition. Added to this order were 10,000 HG 85 “baseball” style hand grenades. And they got a quote on Ultra High Molecular Weight Poly Ethylene (UHMWPE) body armor plates and Multicam camouflage armor plate carriers.

  They visited Rheinmetall Air Defence to place a firm fixed price (FFP) order for 24 Oerlikon GDF 35mm twin anti-aircraft cannons. The Rheinmetall sales executives also gave them pricing information and discussed mounting options for LLM01 lasers for rifles and light machineguns.

  Their next stop was the Military Superstore in Pratteln, near Basel. The store, part of a Swiss chain, had a great selection of military surplus web gear and even military surplus vehicles. There they stumbled into a pile of ancient and bulky first generation (“Gen 1”) Z51 Fero German night vision scopes that worked remarkably well after the substitution of modern battery packs and replacement of the soft rubber parts that were falling apart. They were also noisy, emitting a high-pitched whine. But these scopes would be useful to the Ilemis even if they eventually cannibalized them, because each scope came with the peculiar claw mount needed to fit HKG3 or HK91 receivers.

  Even more importantly, while touring the Military Superstore the Akinses were put in touch with an arms broker in nearby Allschwil, a town just on the other side of Basel. That same evening over dinner they achieved a handshake agreement with the broker to supply 915 used but recently re-arsenalized FN-MAG light machineguns. Although these 7.62mm NATO belt-feds were an 80-year-old old design, they were very robust and famously reliable in harsh environments. Weighing in at more than 26 pounds unloaded, they were too heavy for long-range foot patrols but perfect for vehicular use.

  The next day they traveled a short distance east to Shaffhausen to meet the marketing staff of Swissarms and placed an order for GL 5040 40mm co-axial grenade launchers. The company had CNC blueprints on hand for adapters to mount the grenade launchers under the barrels of HK G3 rifles, but they were initially stumped when asked if they could be adapted to Galils.

  In Germany they immediately went to Oberndorf (on the Neckar River, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany). There they visited the corporate headquarters of Heckler & Koch and scheduled a firm fixed-price purchase of 21,000 reconditioned G3 rifles, 50,000 steel magazines, 300,000 alloy magazines, and a variety of spare parts, armorer’s tools, gauges, manuals, and bench fixtures. To complement the G3s, they also placed an order for 1,200 scoped HK MSG90A1 sniper rifle G3 variants. They also placed an order for 2,000 reconditioned HK21E belt-fed light machineguns, 1,500 new HK121 belt-fed light machineguns, and a variety of accessories, ordnance tools, training videos, and spare parts.

  Next they visited ThyssenKrupp in Essen (in the Ruhr valley) to order 35mm cannon shells and 40mm grenades. They also checked on price and availability of a variety of larger cannon shells and mortar rounds.

  Then after a pleasant train trip, they visited Glock GmBH in Deutsch-Wagram, just east of Vienna, Austria. There they placed an IDIQ order that started with 7,000 Gen 6 Glock Model 19 variant pistols and 65,000 magazines in capacities ranging from 13 to 33 rounds. The Glocks would be assembled in a special order, which combined some features from two existing Glock 19 variants:

  - Olive green polymer frames (with a set of three different profile grip inserts.)

  - Long barrels with Tri-lock muzzle devices (these could be used to mount suppressors, flash hiders, or compensators. With this extra length, a Glock Model 17 holster was usually used, to protect the compensator.)

  - A modular quick-release slide topper. These full-length toppers had a pair of throw levers much like those used on some Picatinny rail attachments. The standard topper had tritium sights, but other toppers could be substituted, including plain standard iron sights (which were preferred when using night vision goggles, since tritium sights were distractingly bright), tall iron sights (for use with a large-diameter suppressor), tall tritium sights, or with a factory-installed High-G Trijicon optical sight. The latter had been popularized by IPSC shooters. The Toppers could be changed quickly. The only tool needed was the handle of an MRE spoon or a popsicle stick to reach in and flip the two throw levers.

  This new Glock 19 variant was dubbed “The Ilemi Special.” When shipped from the factory, each came with compensators and tritium sight slide toppers installed. Owners could then modify them with other muzzle devices, other slide toppers, flashlights, or laser sights, to suit their own needs.

  They then took a three-day break and toured Vienna and Salzburg. It was not until this break that they felt like they were on a honeymoon trip. On all three evenings, they attended classical music concerts. The cities were beautiful, but seeing so many new mosque minarets was disheartening.

  While they were in Vienna, they stopped at a wine merchant shop and ordered a 12-bottle full case of Grüner Veltliner wine from the famed Schloss Gobelsburg vineyard and arranged to have it delivered by air freight to Meital’s parents. This wine was bottled in 2044, a prime year, so bottles of this wine sold for up to 800 NEuros each at auction. Grüner Veltliner was unusual for a white wine, because it aged well. Knowing that her father was a wine connoisseur with a weakness for Austrian varietals, Meital thought that this would make a good “peace offering” to help mend the rift with her father.

  The finale of their first procurement trip was Israel, where they worked with several arms brokers to obtain a sizable portion of Israel’s deep war reserve of obsolete 4.2” mortars, Galil rifles, spare Galil magazines, M2 Browning .
50 Caliber machineguns, tripods, pedestal mounts, ring mounts, and a large variety of accessories and spare parts. They also found a source for 250 of the MKEK Turkish-licensed copies of U.S. Mk19 belt-fed 40mm automatic grenade launchers that came into Israel via a back channel: “an un-named North African country.” They also tried with less success to source Dillon Miniguns. These were electric motor-driven high-cyclic-rate Gatling-type guns. But they were rebuffed because of severe re-export restrictions placed on the Israel Defense Force by the United States. Later, an Isher Trading Company agent was able to find just three M134D Miniguns, at great expense, elsewhere.

  Rick and Meital checked into The Liber, an older nondescript hotel just across from the beach on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv. Their small high-ceilinged room was up three flights of stairs and only had a shabby view of an alley, but the staff was very helpful and discreet. The night manager recommended a restaurant called The Old Man and the Sea in the old town of Jaffa, just down the coast.

  They arrived after a short cab ride to find that the restaurant was built into a large remodeled seaplane hangar and looked out onto a marina with berths for both fishing boats and pleasure craft. Rick was delighted when, without being asked, their waiter delivered more than a dozen small bowls of appetizer fixings -- hummus, sweet carrots in vinegar, shredded beets, creamy egg salad, spicy hot tomato basil, mint salad, creamed cucumber, eggplant salad, cabbage/carrot salad, and hot-off-the-grill pita bread. As a Texan, Rick enjoyed the many picoso items, but Meital preferred milder food, so she concentrated on the hummus, cabbage, and carrot dips. After such a hearty appetizer, they only ordered small main courses. They shared a long, delightful dinner, watching the sunset over the Mediterranean and enjoying the delicious food. But the spell was broken at 7:30, as they walked up the ancient steps to see the St. Peter’s Church and its silenced bell tower and catch a cab back to their hotel. This was when they heard the adhan wailing of the muezzin from the Jaffa minaret loudspeaker, announcing isha -- one of the five daily prayers. Hearing this was a reminder of the importance of their ordnance-buying trip.