so as a follow on to my Ustio air force post I thought I best explain why I chose what I did for them so I’ll start with their combat jets

Ustio’s air force after the Belkan war to put it bluntly was in shambles as their combat fighter force was mostly made up of Erusean built Mirage 3S and Osean F-5E Tiger 2 and F-20A Tigershark which while F-5 and F-20 were still viable but the Erusean Mirage 3S had become obsolete so Ustio decided to buy F-18C Hornets and F-18E Super Hornets to replace the Mirage 3S fleet of air-defence interce#ors but saw the value of their multi-role capability along with their D model Hornet and F-model Super hornet trainers along with EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare Aircraft for Suppression of Enemy Air Defence Operations. But Ustio also bought 2 ASF-X Shinden 2s for a special Air Force Unit named Valkyrie that is lead by the sister of the famous Three Strikes.

Now onto the Transport force which after the war consisted of Emmerian built C-7T Turbo Caribou & C-8A Buffalo along with Osean made C-17A Globemaster 3s and ex-commercial aircraft like a fleet of Dc-8-70CFs, Dc-9-15s and -32 and 33CFs plus some North Point manufactured Sb-330-200 commuter planes and c404 Titan light aircraft.

In order to modernize its transport fleet Ustio bought some C-14A Liftmaster 2s to suppliement its Globemaster 3 fleet and replace ones lost in the Belkan War while the C-143A Challenger took over the Job of Medium range cargo and Vip transport and Medical Evacuation duties from the Dc-9 fleet and eventually replaced the B1900D regional airliner in short range Vip transport and Medical Evacuation duties that allowed Ustio’s government to transfer the two B1900Ds to the Ustian Navy.

As for the Emmerian built C-7T Turbo Caribou & C-8A Buffalo that Ustio had were replaced by C-147As or Dhc-8-300q regional airliners while the Dc-8-70CFs were replaced in the Troop and Cargo and Vip Transport by C-32B based 757-200s that Ustio obtained from a defunct Osean airline.

Ustio seeing how Inadequate their Fast Jets were at Counter Insurgency Operations bought a small fleet of AU-23A Peacemaker planes and used Pc-7F and Pc-21 trainers.

Ustio despite being most a neutral nation decided to make sure if another war did break out that it would’ve needed a tanker aircraft and despite having good range cargo and fuel tanker capacity Ustio deemed the KC-10A Extender needing replacing and honest the KC-45A Voyager was chosen over its ability to both the boom and hose refuelling simultaneously and despite carrying 75,300ib less cargo the voyager can carry 151 more troops and 45000ibs more fuel in its tanker role than the Extender.

When Ustio came to replacing their Mirage 3RS reconnaissance planes the Ustio Government seeing the successful use of Osean predator UAVs in the Belkan War so decided to obtained ADS-95 Ranger which was done on the grounds of cost which itself was replaced by Osean built Hermes 900.

After the war Ustio had a load of old P-3 trainer aircraft that were needing replacement so decided to keep that in-house with the Pc-7, Pc-9 and Pc-21 turboprop trainers

When came to replacing the Belkan Do-27H-2s they had to look elsewhere as the Belkan aircraft industry was in ruins but eventually selected Osean B350C Super King Airs, Emmerian Dhc-6-300 Twin Otter and their own Pc-6B-2/H-2M and Pc-12/45 under the names UC-12W Huron, UV-18B Twin Otter, UV-20A Chiricahua and U-28A Draco although the Super King Air and Twin Otter are also employed by the Ustio Topography Department for airborne survey work.

with only a VIP Dc-8 and Dc-9 in their fleet Ustio decided to expand the VIP fleet with a pair of Osean LJ35A and Erusean Falcon 50EX but over the years those jet left the fleet as newer planes came in such as the B1900D,Pc-12/45 and Pc-24 for the PM’s short range VIP transport while

a lone C560XL Citation Excel and Falcon 900EX were added and if you’re lost then I’ll clarify

A single 757-200er passenger jet and Pc-12/45 and Pc-24 is used by the Ustio PM while the Ustio government uses a CL604 Challenger, C560xl Citation Excel and Falcon 900EX

Oh before I forget in late 2019 Ustio purchased an XF-2D Super Viper Zero from Osea for testing operations but said Super Viper Zero had seen combat action in the Lighthouse War being none other than Three Strikes himself during the raid on the Erusean Navy’s Ran Fleet.

Now we move to the Helicopter fleet after the Belkan War Ustio having lost its Cargo Transport Helicopter force bought new AS332M, M1 Super Puma and AS532UL Cougar Helicopters along with a number of CQ-10B SnowGoose and CQ-24A K-MAX Cargo Helicopter UAVs.

Ustio’s Search and Rescue Force was in dire need of modernization before the war as their fleet of 50s era SA313B Alouette 2s had become woefully inadequate for Combat Search and Rescue and Insufficient for Search and Rescue missions and had in fact been formerly withdrawn form Air force before however the Belkan War set those plans back years until Ustio took the AS532UL Cougars from Erusea and configured them for SAR however War once again threw a spanner in the works cause Erusea’s aircraft industry was in shambles after losing the Continental war so Ustio was unable to buy new Cougar Helicopters until Osea announced their H-10A Cougar Helicopter.

The H-10A Cougar takes the front half of of an AS332L1 Super Puma fuselage and mates it with the rear half and tail assembly of the AS532UL Cougar so Ustio bought two variants of the H-10A the CH-10A Cougar for Cargo Transportation and the HH-10A Cougar for Combat Search and Rescue.

As for Ustio’s 20 SA313B Alouette 2 and 70 SA316A Alouette 3 Helicopters Ustio’s government had planned to transfer the 20 Alouette 2s to the Ustio Navy for their utility helicopter fleet and the 70 Alouette 3s were destined for the Ustian Army but Belka scuppered that plan with an airstrike on the storage base where Ustio stored their Helicopters that had been removed from the air force destroying all 20 of the Alouette 2 and half of the Alouette 3 fleet.

As for the VIP Helicopter which Ustio lacked until 2005 when an SA356N Dauphin 2 was chosen however getting one proved difficult thanks to the continental war so Ustio got one from a commercial operators and used it till 09 when it was replaced by Erusean Ec-635 helicopters which also replaced the surviving Alouette 3 fleet.