With or without equipment, I surely don't want any more of these thankless breed on our soil.
We have enough mess with the earlier escapees. If you visit Hayatabad on the outskirts of Peshawar, you get rough idea of how these people have settled and have virtually taken over local businesses not forgetting the so called American market where you can buy anything from Zippo Lighters to Rocket Launchers.
No Thanks.
It was just a
tafree thought, but not something that is unheard of. I recall stories of Libyan pilot(s) defecting to Malta.
Either way..., there are more than 600 Trucks that pass through PAK-Afghan Border. Those Trucks/Trailers are worth no more than a couple of grand (USD). I'm pretty sure the Super Tucanos are worth a whole lot more. And those trucks are the ones we outta worry 'bout 'cause if its 600 Trucks a day, those aren't running on their own like a TESLA. There are atleast 600 of 'em coming through.
I doubt you'll find AAF Pilots hanging around in those areas you mentioned of.
If they did defect, those Super Turanos would be worthless to us anyways - but quite useful to China.
But even if we weren't to take that route & resting
@ziaulislam worries of not upsetting Uncle Sam, we could...
1. Disassemble the jet. Polish & oil the parts. Pack them properly in crates & deliver 'em to the US in our Il-78.
2. Hand the Pilot(s) off to the Red Cross (a la Geneva Convention).
- India's media goes crazy.
- (Current) Afghan Gov't. goes nuts.
- US, well they're clueless as to what just happened.
Its a Win - Win - Win situation & not entirely impossible judging by how fast things are unfolding in Afghanistan. One of the Chopper Pilots already defected to the US.
I'm guessing the families of these highly paid Pilots are already outside of Afghanistan by now. A friend of mine just operated Kabul flight last nite & she said it was FULL on the way back. I myself am heading there next week (maybe).
Note: Defecting doesn't mean (just) Pakistan. There are other neighboring Countries too where they could head.