AirScan Inc.

From SourceWatch
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Overview

AirScan Inc. was formed in 1984 by former US Air Commandos Walter Holloway and John Mansur [1] with high standards of recruitment. They have been specializing in airbourne surveillance, security operations, surveillance systems, wildlife surveys and training since 1989. They are one of the only companies able to operate unmanned aerial vehicles [2]. They most recently won a $10 million contract from the Coalition Provisional Authority to provide aerial surveillance of the pipelines protected by Erinys International Ltd. They are rather secretive about many of their operations, choosing to remain vague, citing privacy, and speak mostly about their infrared deer surveys and polar bear trackings, according to AirScan's website.

Clients

Over the years, AirScan has worked for many government agencies and corporations. Among their clients have been:

Colombia

On December 13, 1998, the Colombian Air Force, funded by Occidental Petroleum with coordinates provided by AirScan, dropped a US made cluster bomb on the Colombian town of Santo Domingo. Three employees of AirScan were flying a Skymaster plane from which they provided the Colombian military with the coordiantes to disembark their troops and where to drop the bombs. The attack was planned at Occidental's complex in Cano Lima by the CAF and AirScan [5].

AirScan is one of the named defendents in the law suit Galvis Mujica v. Occidental Petroleum, et al. filed April 23, 2003 in the US District Court in Los Angeles. The suit was filed by the Washington DC based International Labor Rights Fund and is based on the Alien Tort Claims Act [6] [7]. The AirScan employees, Arthur McClintock, Jose Orta, and Charlie Denny have disappeared and no one seems too ready to cough them up [8]. The Coast Guard is investigating whether Orta, who was allegedly flying the plane, was a military officer on active duty at the Coast Guard at the time [9]. AirScan has denied any involvement in the attack [10].

US Representative Jan Schakowsky's letter to Colin Powell in November of 2002 requests he decertify the Colombian Air Force's 1st Combat Command so that they may stop receiving US funding. US Ambassador Anne Patterson had recommended this action as well and in the summer of 2004, Secretary of State Powell did decertify the unit [11]. He is, however, still reluctant to support finding the three pilots, as Rep Schakowsky had also requested.

Africa

  • AirScan has been implicated in running Pentagon weapons to counter-insurgency operations in Uganda, as well as to rebels in the Sudan fighting the Khartoum regime [12][
  • AirScan was hired by the MPLA government of Angola in late 1997 to provide surveillance of the mostly Chevron owned oil installations in the Cabinda region, a region Angola had just weeks earlier led an offensive from into the Congo. The MPLA had several firms hired in the region including Defence Systems Limited and MPRI, who had been set receive the contract but pulled out at the last moment.
    • The timing and location of hiring AirScan leads some to believe these firms are providing covert training and assistance in oil wealthy areas of Africa [13].
    • Brigadier General Joe Stringham, a founding member of AirScan and in charge of operations in Cabinda was responsible for many covert counter-insurgency activities in El Salvador during their dirty war in the '80s [14][15].

SourceWatch Resources

Contact

AirScan Inc
3505 Murrell Road
Rockledge, Florida
32955
Tel: (321) 631-0005
Fax: (321) 631-5811

Retrieved from "https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AirScan_Inc.&oldid=304831"