Paraguay keeping M3 Stuart, M4 Sherman tanks in service

[HTRN]

Why would they bother?
Look who they share a border with.

[Aesop]

Looking around on teh intarwebz a bit, it appears these are pretty much the extent of their armor capabilities. So, if you've got a spare $250k lying around, you could pick up the Chieftain that's available and then take over Paraguay. Just sayin'...

Right.
But then you'd be stuck with...Paraguay.

For the same amount of money you could buy a rustbelt township, make your friends and families the police department, and then put in for some kickass surplus gear from Uncle Sam. For $1.

[Greg]

Why would they bother?
Look who they share a border with.

And what are they going to accomplish with a few parade toy surplus Leopards that they can't maintain that they can't accomplish just as well (or, in this case, poorly) with a few parade toy elderly relics that they at least can, maybe, maintain?

Right, overthrow the government.

[HTRN]

That's a software issue.

Hence my "graft and corruption" comment.

A couple dozen lep2a6s, a dozen pzkw2000, a dozen or two supercobras, a dozen of the latest mark phantoms, and maybe a half dozen f111 in a custom light bomber variant, and you could probably paste any military south of the Rio grande.

Of course, that assuming competent soldiers and leadership..

[Greg]

That's a software issue.

Hence my "graft and corruption" comment.

A couple dozen lep2a6s, a dozen pzkw2000, a dozen or two supercobras, a dozen of the latest mark phantoms, and maybe a half dozen f111 in a custom light bomber variant, and you could probably paste any military south of the Rio grande.

Of course, that assuming competent soldiers and leadership..

You want Tornados, or A-6's or A-7's or (and these are actually sought after on the used market) A-4's.... definitely *not* F-111's. You could even probably pick up a couple dozen reasonably modernized Mirage F-1's from Spain for a song (if your Uncle will let Spain sell them to you). Not Phantoms, either.

But, after reading that last line, and yes you said it yourself.... We go back to where I said:

Why?

Seriously, why would they bother?

[HTRN]

I mentioned f111s, as it's probably the closest thing to an actual bomber available.

And not uncle sugar thought this was a great idea too - the fb111a variant was intended for this exact role, with a payload of 35,000 pounds.

[Greg]

I mentioned f111s, as it's probably the closest thing to an actual bomber available.

And not uncle sugar thought this was a great idea too - the fb111a variant was intended for this exact role, with a payload of 35,000 pounds.

Yes, but that's not the point.

You're not going to be able to get used ones cheap, and if you did get one you wouldn't be able to keep it flying. It's an unreliable maintenance nightmare. *We* had trouble keeping them working.

Should you want a pseudo bomber, Tornado will do what you need and there are plenty of recently retired models available (and Euro-owned so lightly used). Or A-6's, if you don't mind ugly and slow.

More likely though you want an attack aircraft, an A-4's and A-7's are kind of the used value gold standard here. I believe a couple squadrons of like-new refurbed Kfirs could be yours at bargain rates, too.

[SoupOrMan]

The F models are still likely airworthy. The G models are likely airworthy as well. The A, D and E models are good sources for parts.

I'd use those and any A-6s you find in a medium bomber/stand-off strike format. For ground attack, though, you want A-4s or A-7s if you're working on the cheap.

We always joked about using the old GAU-4/A gun pods from F-4Cs and Ds on pylons for strafing runs. It would work way better than the ill-advised gun in the weapons bay.

I'm honestly surprised they're not using old M3 Lee tanks as well.

[Greg]

I'm honestly surprised they're not using old M3 Lee tanks as well.

I wonder how many of those still exist.

It was an awkward interim design, anything to shoehorn in a gun big enough to fire a useful HE shell so they stuck it in the hull. Large crew requirements, poorly armored for it's bulk, difficult for a TC to effectively control/fight....

Don't think they made too many of them, and they were soon replaced by the Sherman. And once the Sherman was available, I don't think anyone was going to take great care of their remaining stocks of Grant/Lee tanks (ISTR it had both nicknames, but I don't recall who used which name).

I think a lot of them were converted to other uses, like recovery vehicle, self-propelled artillery, early APC.....

[Jericho941]

Yeah, the M3 could get really chaotic in a hurry.

"The 75mm main gun is firing. The 37mm secondary gun is firing, but it’s traversed round the wrong way. The Browning is jammed. I am saying, ‘Driver advance’ on the A set, but the driver – who can’t hear me – is reversing. And as I look over the top of the turret, and see 12 enemy, just 50 yards away, someone hands me a cheese sandwich."
-Lt. Ken Giles