Draken International is quietly assembling the largest non-militarized fleet of jet fighters in the world - Orlando SentinelScott MaxwellUnbeknownst to many, an entire fleet of military aircraft is being quietly assembled just up Interstate 4.We're talking MiG-21s, A-4K Skyhawks, MB-339s and more.This isn't a museum. It's a growing fleet of more than 70 fighter jets, capable of taking to the skies at a moment's notice.Its owners say they have amassed the largest collection of privately owned military tactical jets in the world.The fleet is larger than those operated by some small countries. In fact, in 2012, the company actually bought much of the fleet of one small country: New Zealand.The company is called Draken International in Lakeland. And it is on the cutting edge of a growing trend in the U.S. military: outsourcing the enemy.You see, for generations, the military has run training drills against itself. American fighter jets pretended to attack U.S. ships, ground troops and other jets, so that our forces could be prepared.But now the Navy can hire a company such as Draken to play the bad guys.Draken uses cheaper planes than the ones our military fly."It's a waste to have two F-22s running drills against each other," said Jerry Kerby, vice president of operations for Draken. "We simulate what the bad guys do. Only we do it for a whole lot cheaper.""Cheaper" is relative.These military contracts can be worth tens of millions of dollars. The big one Draken is currently vying for with the U.S. Navy calls for thousands of flight hours — with each hour earning the company somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 or $6,000, based on past deals.If $6,000 an hour sounds like a lot, it is. Yet when the military uses its cutting-edge planes for these drills, it can cost taxpayers more than $40,000 an hour.Now, you're starting to get an idea of why one out of every five tax dollars you pay goes to defense.Draken is relatively new to what's known as the "commercial air services" industry. But it has come on gangbusters, saying its fleet of 78 jets is the largest. The company is winning gigs and determined to become the industry's new go-to operation.It's all run out of a 120,000-square-foot hangar on the southern side of Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.Planes are parked throughout the cavernous building. Some are ready to fly. Some are disassembled. All are surrounded by thousands of cartons of spare parts — everything from extra brakes to ejection seats.On the morning I was there last week, a small army of maintenance experts worked throughout the open-air facility.Most of the company's employees are ex-military. All of the pilots are. Kerby, for instance, is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force.Draken's increasing work force and spending has caught the attention of Gov. Rick Scott, who touted the company's recent plans to expand its work force to more than 50 employees.The acquisitions are fascinating in their own rights. After all, not just anybody can waltz into the Czech Republic and buy a dozen subsonic L-159s (a deal consummated earlier this month).The U.S. State Department has to approve the deals. So does the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.So far, Draken has just had short-term contracts. For instance, the company ran drills off the coast of California to test defense systems of a Navy warship.What kind of ship? Kerby doesn't even know — and he ran the mission. That's because contracted companies don't always get the full picture. Instead, they receive specific directions (start out 25,000 feet; drop to 5,000 feet when you're 10 miles out; then peel off when told).Kerby presumes they were testing the ship's defense systems. But his job isn't to ask questions or tell tales. It's simply to follow orders — and do so as cheaply as possible."The results of what we do are generally never known to us," Kerby said. "And that's OK. Our job is to do what we're asked and always be ready."
