Obama desarma 50 estados: confisca helicópteros de guerra, trocando-os pelos de transporte.
In all, the Defense Department will confiscate 192 Apaches from National Guard units around the country and give them to the active duty Army. In exchange for the heavily armed and highly maneuverable choppers, Guard units will receive 111 UH-60 Blackhawk transport helicopters from the Army, Defense One reports. The Apache, which began service in 1986, is armed with a 30 mm M230E1 Chain Gun (with 1,200 rounds), Hellfire anti-tank missiles, and 70 general-purpose 70 mm rockets. In short, it is capable of fending-off any enemy, foreign or domestic. Obviously, these helicopters could pose a substantial obstacle to say, a tyrant drunk on his own power, with an army at his disposal.
“This is much larger than the Apache discussion,” Grass said. “Especially as we look down the road. It’s brigades. It will affect just about every jurisdiction in the United States when we look at this to get down to the 315,000 number someday that we face.” The “someday number” refers to cuts in Guard personnel, should sequestration continue into FY2016. Some argue the helicopter swap is needed because the Blackhawk is better suited for natural disaster recovery operations, which Guard units are tasked to do. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Co., said the Blackhawks were instrumental during recent flooding in his state. “In Colorado, we benefited greatly from having National Guard Blackhawks available to perform search and rescue missions, evacuate flood victims, drop water on wildfires, even deliver hay to cattle stranded by blizzards. Have Apaches ever been used for those purposes, and wouldn’t it make sense to have those utility aircraft available to governors for in-state missions?” . “The main mission of those Apaches,” Grass said, “is to be the combat reserve of the Army.” There are currently nine states where the National Guard flies Apaches.
