World's Largest Commercial, Civil and Private Sector Air Force

It can field 30 operational MiG-21s, 11 Douglas A-4K Skyhawks, has acquired 12+24 F-16A MLU aircraft decommissioned by Norway and Denmark for a total of 36 and will upgrade them (the F-16s have not yet entered service at Draken International), as well as different types; Denel (formerly Atlas), Cheetah (a major South African upgrade of the Mirage III with Israeli IAI Kfir technology derived from the Mirage 5), MB-339 light fighter jet, and 28 more aircraft in this category, will rank high in Flight International's annual World Air Force index.

A Mirage F1 owned by Draken International.

It may come as a surprise to learn that the aircraft listed above belong to a commercial company. This fleet belongs to Draken International, the largest private air force in the world.

Based in Lakeland, Florida, Draken International was founded in 2011 and has grown rapidly since then. Currently, the company conducts a number of training activities for the US Air Force, but is also actively considering and planning to open a European base. However, it also offers flight services to the French Navy.

Draken International's short-term business model is to become the first commercial air power service provider to operate entirely fourth-generation tactical fighter aircraft. 

The company first began service in 2012 with A-4 Skyhawks purchased from the Royal New Zealand Air Force, which were modernized to the 4th Generation level.  The A-4 Skyhawks purchased were unlike any other Skyhawks in the world. New Zealand had given them a $300 million upgrade in the 1990s, taking the guts of the F-16 and putting it into the Skyhawk, so to speak. This included a Westinghouse AN/APG-66 radar, a hands-on throttle and stick system (HOTAS), a glass cockpit and a MIL-STD-1553B databus. Until Draken International purchased them, these aircraft had not flown in New Zealand for almost a decade, but had been kept in stock and were very well maintained.

The fleet includes A-4 Skyhawks purchased from New Zealand and MiG-21s from Poland, as well as nine Alenia Aermacchi MB-339s, also from New Zealand, and five Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros purchased from various US private owners. When off-duty, Draken fliers fly the L-39s in the Black Diamonds aerobatic team.

The Draken argue that their opponents tend to use older aircraft and equipment such as IAI Kfirs, Hawker Hunters or Learjets for roles such as target towing or electronic attack profiles. (He is referring to their biggest competitor, Top Aces, an older civilian fighter aircraft company than Draken. See for Top Aces. Ref.-1).

Draken has been getting high yields from the L-39 Albatros, so it has also purchased 28 of the Aero Vodochody L-159 ALCA (Advanced Light Combat Aircraft), an advanced version of the L-39, and expanded its Albatros fleet.

Draken International's L-159 ALCA Albatros aircraft.

An Aermacchi MB-339 belonging to Draken International.

Derived from Aero's old L-39 Albatros of the 1970s, the ALCAs were built in the early years of this century, 72 of them, kept in stock as surplus and waiting for their customers. 

The fact that the L-159 ALCAs were built between 2001 and 2003 and never flew means that these aircraft are easily supportable and sustainable. The aircraft is equipped with the Selex Grifo-L multi-mode pulsed Doppler radar used on the 4th Generation aircraft, a glass cockpit and HOTAS. It is powered by a modern Honeywell F124 engine, a very efficient engine. 

Draken has also spent additional money on ALCAs to upgrade their performance. These included aerodynamic improvements to increase top speed. 

The missions the Draken flies for the US armed forces are a wide variety of training roles, ranging from simple tasks such as towing air targets for anti-aircraft cannon fire to cruise missile flight profiles flying against US Navy ships. However, the aggressor missions flown to train the F-16, F-15, F-22 and F-35 are difficult and require serious preparation and performance.

Why is the US Armed Forces Purchasing Services from a Civilian Air Force?

The main driver behind the use of Draken's fleet in these roles is, of course, cost.

According to Draken International, there are three key features that provide significant advantages for its customers. These are;

1. There is a significant difference between the cost of flying one of Draken's aircraft and the cost of flying a front-line military jet. Draken aircraft cost about $7,000 per hour to fly. That's a cost savings of $40,000 per flight hour compared to an F-16. For aircraft like the F-35 or the Eurofighter Typhoon, that's a cost savings of around $80,000. These are very significant cost savings per flight hour.

2. Each fighter has a total lifespan of about 8,000 flight hours. Every hour that a Draken fighter flies instead of a frontline fighter is an hour that you don't have to spend on the airframe of that fighter, so as an air force you are extending the life of your frontline fighters by buying the services of a civilian squadron for specific missions.

3. There is always the danger of "negative training". Given that many western fighter pilots only have about 150 hours of flight time per year, that's how much they can fly, it makes no sense to waste precious flight time on flights that will never benefit them in combat, such as cruise missile profiles. They could allocate their allocated flight time to missions that would be more necessary and valuable to them in combat, thus better preparing your pilots for real warfare.

However, the Draken does not undertake the high-level missions undertaken by US squadrons in the Aggressor role. Flying F-15s, F-18s and F-16s, Aggressor squadrons can simulate almost any threat in the world. But there is also a wide range of threats from third-generation or early fourth-generation aircraft, and using your top Aggressor aircraft to simulate these enemy aircraft is very costly. Once the F-16s it has acquired are modernized, Draken will also simulate some high-end aggressor enemy aircraft.

In training, the US Air Force asks the Draken International fleet to focus on simulating the attackers' MiG-29s and J-11s. With the aircraft in its inventory, Draken can easily simulate MiG-21s and other third- and non-senior fourth-generation types.

The company sources its pilots from former military pilots. Draken International has a large number of former USAF, USN and USMC pilots.

Draken International's L-39 Albatrosses.

So Who Maintains Draken International's Fleet and How?

Paramount Aerospace, which belongs to the Paramount Group, to which Draken International belongs, carries out line, base and depot level maintenance of Draken International's aircraft. This company also prefers and procures its aircraft maintenance personnel from aircraft maintenance experts retired from the US armed forces.

Draken International's L-159 ALCA during periodic maintenance.

The air forces of the US Armed Forces (USAF, NAVY AIR, MARINES AIR) prefer to outsource some of their missions to civilian air forces for the reasons explained above, increasing the quality and quantity of these services. This increases the number and capacities of private companies such as Top Aces and Draken International, which we can call "Civil Air Force/Force". These companies purchase decommissioned fighter aircraft, modernize them, prefer and employ retired and separated personnel from the armed forces for flight and aircraft maintenance tasks, and the customer air force provides significant cost savings and training quality advantages in flight missions performed by these private companies. A similar service has started to be preferred by some European air forces. The Canadian, German and French Air Forces also purchase some flight service missions from civilian air force companies. 

References:

TOP ACES, The World's First and Only Civilian Company with a Commercial F-16 Fleet

https://strasam.org/savunma/havacilik-ve-uzay-sanayii/top-aces-ticari-f-16-filosuna-sahip-dunyada-ilk-ve-tek-sivil-sirket-1995