Texas firm's secretive arms deals: Uncovering redfish trading
The weapons that various countries provide as military aid to Ukraine don't always come from military warehouses. Some of the equipment is supplied by private arms trading companies. A few years ago, one of these companies offered dozens of airplanes and a significant quantity of other weapons.
The Ukrainian service Defense Express discovered an unusual company. Registered in Texas, Redfish Trading Company offered a wide selection of heavy military equipment a decade ago. Their offer included T-72 tanks.
Notably, these were not old, decommissioned models but 100 vehicles in the T-72B3 variant, which is both new and used by the Russian army. Redfish Trading Company also offered Buk air defense systems.
These were also not surplus equipment but the Buk-MB variant, a new version of the system, modernized and officially sold by the Belarusian company NPOOO OKB TSP.
The aviation part of the offer was equally intriguing. It included Mi-24W and Mi-24D helicopters, 15 Su-25 attack aircraft described as refurbished, as well as factory-new Su-25K and Su-25UBK, which are export versions of this aircraft.
Hundreds of tanks and aircraft
The offering was complemented by a list of typical surplus equipment: Bo 105P helicopters, over 100 T-72A tanks, BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, T-55 tanks, and BRDM-2 armoured reconnaissance vehicles.
The Texas company also declared the ability to provide regular deliveries of rocket missiles for the BM-21 Grad system and to supply MiG-29, Su-27, and old Su-17 military aircraft.
The Ukrainian service couldn't confirm whether any part of the arsenal, sufficient to spark a large-scale armed conflict, was purchased and delivered to a buyer. However, Ukrainians note that traces of Redfish Trading Company's activities have been removed, and only media mentions remain of the company that offered hundreds of military pieces.
