Platinea

[Platinea]

The Liberal-Verde coalition secured a commanding majority of seats in elections yesterday. Marilena Rosas-Lopez, 38, will swear the Grito Platano on Wednesday before taking office as chair of the first Liberal-led coalition government in thirty years.

Marilena, who will be the youngest Jefe de Cabildo to take office, embodies the new Partido Liberal. Ignoring early cracks about a crippled party president for a crippled party, she turned around the party's fortunes, bringing a confidence, freshness, and pugnaciousness to the Partido Liberal. Marilena centered her campaign on the need for a complete break from the politics of the past – both the old doctrinaire Partido Liberal and the unwillingness of Jefe de Cabildo Hernán Cortazar, 57, to fully break with Negrosa socialism, particularly in industrial policy.

“We're starting the future of Platinea tonight!” Marilena shouted at her party's rally in Corrientes, announcing her victory before the packed crowd. “We've shown everyone what really matters – not corruption but justice, not connections but people. Come Wednesday, we're going to show what a truly free Platinea can do!”

The victory of Liberal-Verde marks an end to the Grisoja coalition. The pact between Cortazar and the Nuevo Partido Radical he broke off from in 1995, concluded in August to maintain a majority government, was formally withdrawn this morning. Cortazar's controversial pact with the NPR, cemented by awarding state-owned aviation company Plavia a no-bid contract for new jet fighters, was roundly criticized as Negrosismo. Dogged by allegations of corruption, Cortazar's coalition never recovered. Of the forty sitting NPR members, 37 Rojas – including party leader Manuel Belem – lost their seats; of the ninety seats held by Cortazar's Moderado Partido Radical-Anarquista, seventy were taken by the Liberal-Verde coalition and other political rivals.

Eighty percent of registered voters – including 85% of registered voters 18-25 years old – cast their ballot yesterday. Turnout resembled the 1995 election, in which Cortazar's MPRA and Bernardini Ferré's Partido Verde broke the NPR-Frente Comunista stranglehold on Platano politics. Exit polling revealed similar concerns to 1995. Yesterday, 35% of voters said that the main issue in their minds in the booth was government corruption, which had been the centerpiece of Cortazar and Ferré's campaign in 1995.

Ferré, 68, turned on the MPRA in June after Cortazar refused to bring the Partido Verde's Counter-Pollution Act to the floor. Ferré pushed for coalition with the Partido Liberal, publicly arguing Marilena's advocacy of cap-and-trade was better than more of Cortazar's broken promises. Despite opposition from such party limelights as Consuela Nasar, who briefly crossed over to the MPRA benches, Ferré successfully negotiated the coalition. At Corrientes, he was all smiles.

The Liberal-Verde coalition will have a full legislative agenda starting Tuesday. Marilena has pledged to break up and privatize inefficient, noncompetitive state-owned industries; to implement a cap-and-trade program, which will auction off annual rights to emit pollutants up to a cap, which can be resold; to reform defense spending and end the process of no-bid contracts; and to reform trade policy with an eye to eventual free trade.

The Republic of Platinea, stretching from Rosario in the South to Puerta Alegre in the North, from Jujuy in the West to Montevideo in the East, is a vibrant multiparty parliamentary democracy. Formed during the collapse of the Viceroyalty of the Plate, Platinea is a cosmopolitan state, having attracted immigrants from cultures as diverse as Lebanon, Italy, China, Germany, Portugal and Japan.

Population: 22.5 million
Area: 378690109 square km
Capital: Montevideo
Provinces: 16
Government: Multiparty, parliamentary unitary democracy; PL-PV coalition led by Jefe de Cabildo Marilena Rosas-Lopez (PL).
Military: 95000 active-duty, divided into 3 branches: Armada Platano, Armada Aérea Platano, and Ejército Platano. Service by draft.
GDP per capita: $26365
GDP: $593.212 billion

[Platinea]

*Agriculture and ranching
Historically, Platinea has always had a strong agricultural sector. Platano beef, initially sold as salted meat to slaveowning nations, has gained significantly in reputation and quality, to the point that it is regarded as one of the finest elements of local cuisine. Platano cattle ranches have steadily consolidated, but the gaucho tradition remains alive, if mainly in cinema.

The Platano sugar-cane industry, centered in Tucumán, came into its own in the 1890s, with the development of railway links to Corrientes. Cane harvested in Tucumán would be shipped to Corrientes and refined into sugar there.

*Industry
History
Platinea began development of modern industry with the meat-packing plants of Rosario, the first such plants opening in 1855. In the late 1870s, imported ready-made clothing began to replace earlier, hand-sewn clothing; a crisis with Brazil in 1883 promoted a surge of nationalism and led to the emergence of a domestic clothing industry. Foreign investment, along with the completion of the national railroad net in 1899, laid the foundations for the wide-spread industrialization. By 1929, half of all products sold in Platinea were produced in domestic factories - a third of which were foreign-owned.

The 1930s were a hard time for Platano industry. Foreign investment sources dried up, and domestic capital was limited. The Partido Radical, attempting to stem job losses, nationalized several weak, failing factories, particularly in the agri-industry sector. The crisis was weathered, but inefficiencies in Platano industry had not been corrected. As the world crisis eased, cheap, efficiently-made, higher-quality imports took on wider and wider segments of the market.

The electronics industry in Platinea emerged in the late 1960s, with multinationals like Olivetti and IBM setting up plants for the local assembly of integrated circuits and semiconductors; many set up shop in Puerta Alegre, where municipal leadership offered attractive tax incentives. FPTE, a tire manufacturing company set up in the 1950s with assistance from General Tire, had already begun shifting towards electronics, subcontracting for IBM, Olivetti, and Texas Instruments. Its policy of investing significantly in R&D, hiring top Platano scientists and supporting their studies abroad, and securing technical assistance from abroad, led to the first Platano desk calculators in 1971, the first Platano integrated circuits in 1974, and the first Platano computer for the domestic market in 1977. Since then, due to the assured leadership of Roberto Zubieta, relatively low labor costs, the tariffs instituted by the Negrosas in 1984, and subsidies passed by the Gris-Verde coalition in the late 1990s, FPTE has maintained itself as a significant player.

[WIP]

[Platinea]

Ejército Platano
History -
The Ejército Platano traces its roots in the revolutionary armies of Artigas and San Martín, but formally dates itself to July 21, 1830, when the Cabildo, led by Jefe Bernardino Rivadavia, authorized the formation and upkeep of "an army, sufficient in number to ensure our defense, sufficient in quality to retain our trust, whose members should uphold the values of the Republic." It has kept up to this creed; until 1942, in fact, it was an all-volunteer force. The Ejército Platano has never engaged in open warfare. While occasional border conflicts have occurred, Platinea's strict neutrality has kept it out of war.

Its gear has changed over time. Initially, the Ejército primarily purchased arms from Britain, and styled its uniforms after America. Uniforms were hand-sewn, even after the first sewing machines were introduced in 1870, due to conservatism in the Quartermaster's department. When it received funding to replace its Snider-Enfield rifles (purchased in 1865) in 1883, it elected to purchase Remington rolling-block rifles in lieu of Martini-Henries, marking the beginning of a shift to sourcing arms outside Britain. By 1895, bolt-action rifles were replacing older weapons throughout the world; Platinea, like many other nations, bought a license to produce Mausers chambered in 7x57mm; factories were set up at Rosario to produce the weapons. The same year, with the stigma against machine-sewn uniforms fading, the Ejército Platano received new Singer-sewn uniforms, still made to the old bluecoat patterns first fielded in the 1860s. The artillery arm, which had received limited funding even after the crisis of 1883, was finally updated in 1909 with the purchase of Krupp field guns and Maxim machine guns; doctrine kept machine guns in the artillery corps until 1919, when surplus Chauchats and Vickers Guns were acquired from the American army. Although British-style helmets were adopted, the bluecoat remained the pattern of choice, long after most armies had shifted to some derivative of khaki. In 1933, the Ejército received a major funding boost, and purchased new Italian artillery, machine-guns, and tankettes. Licenses to produce Finnish Suomi sub-machine guns and Lahti antitank rifles were purchased in 1940, with new factories being set up in Montevideo. The first true tanks, 16 Vickers Medium Mk.II tanks, were acquired in 1936; an order for H-35s placed in August 1939 was canceled in September by the French government, forcing the Ejército to design its own tanks. Arsenal Rosario finished development of a modern medium tank, inspired by the American Grant and Sherman tanks and fitted with old Krupp field guns, in March 1945; the first 10 Misi tanks, named after the Quechua for 'cat,' entered service on April 4. Production was cut short when surplus Shermans came available in the winter, but 30 Misi were produced in all. Surplus M3 and M5 halftracks allowed the Ejército to field its first mechanized infantry units in this period. In 1961, having lost the now-independent Armada Aéreo, the Ejército's requests for new weapons for the troops, previously rejected in favor of continued aircraft purchases, were granted; competitive trials between the Soviet AKM, the American M-14 and AR-15, the German G3, and the Belgian FAL led to the selection of the latter, adopted in 1962 as the license-produced Rosario FI 7.62. The same trials saw the Belgian MAG adopted as the AI 7.62 GPMG, replacing the old Breda AI 6.5 LMG and AI 8 HMG. The French AMX-13/105, selected in favor of the Soviet PT-76, the American M41, and an offer from Japan to co-develop and co-produce the Type 61, began moving down the assembly lines of Arsenal Plata in Corrientes in 1964, alongside self-propelled artillery and infantry vehicles based on the same chassis.

Equipment -
The Ejército Platano, like the other branches of the Fuerzas Armadas, relies heavily on locally-produced, foreign-developed equipment, ranging from the Rosario FI 7.62 (FN Herstal's FAL assault rifle), which entered service in the 1960s, to the Arsenal Plata TP-97 Tigre (Degman's M84A4 main battle tank), which finished its production run in 2001.
Major combat vehicles include the Tigre, the PlaFord VI-83 infantry combat vehicle, the Arsenal Plata TS-64 Pampa light tank, the Engesa CB-79 armored car, the PlaFord VI-70 APC, the Arsenal Plata VI-64 APC, the Arsenal Rosario VLC-82 Pampero MRL and the Kaiser-Rosario OA-64 SPH.
Supply equipment include Unimog trucks and PlaFord M151 MUTT jeeps.
Towed artillery pieces are provided by Arsenal Rosario, in Rosario; these include the O-77 and O-81 155mm/33 and O-92 155mm/45 field guns, and the licensed-produced OC-77 pack 105mm/14 howitzer.
Infantry weapons include the Rosario FI 7.62 assault rifle, FIA 7.62 automatic rifle and FIC 7.62 carbine, the Toro AI 7.62 machine gun, the Toro PA-72 submachine gun, the Toro PS83 pistol, the Franchi SPAS-15 shotgun, and the Toro FF-84 sniper rifle.
Heavier weapons include the Arsenal Rosario MSS-78 Mathogo and the Arsenal Corrientes MSS-88 Visacha anti-tank missiles, the MIA-95 Lance man-portable surface-to-air missile, the Hirtenberger MI 60 and MI-C 60 light mortars, the Hirtenberger MI 81 medium mortar, the Hirtenberger MI 120 heavy mortar, the Talley Industries/Arsenal Rosario RIS-85 Abogado light anti-tank rocket launcher, and the Arsenal Montevideo FSR-68 recoilless rifle.
The Ejército Platano controls the air defense belt, 48 batteries of radar-guided Oerlikon cannon set up in installations on the outskirts of the sixteen provincial capital cities.

Armada Platano
*History, 1883-1914 -
Until the crisis of 1883, the Armada Platano was a minuscule force, with just a few brigs and schooners to its name. In the wake of the crisis, funding for the Armada shot up, accelerating a naval arms race around the Southern Cone that had started with Peru and Chile. Two Plata-class pre-dreadnoughts, based on the French Dévastation, entered service in 1885, joining the monitor Cabildo (formerly the USS Dictator, purchased in 1883). By July 1914, the Armada fielded three Corrientes-class destroyers, a pair of Garibaldi-class armored cruisers, an Uruguay-class scout cruiser, and a Rivadavia-class battleship. Of five Jujuy-class destroyers ordered, two had been delivered, while the other three were approaching completion; these were to be accompanied by five Entre Rios-class destroyers to be built by Krupp.

*Two World Wars
The Great War saw the purchase of the remaining three Jujuys by the French government, while the Entre Rios-class destroyers were never built. The Jujuy and Formosa commissioned in December 1914. In 1915, eight Holland Type 602 submarines being built in the US for the Royal Navy were interned; the British sold two, the H18 and H20, to the Armada Platano in 1917. The ex-German dreadnought Ostfriesland, transferred to America after the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet, was sold to the Armada Platano on July 4, 1921, in lieu of sinking her; she was renamed Moreno and refit with 12"/50 Bethlehem guns, an American-style secondary armament, and oil-fired boilers. She commissioned with Platinea on February 1, 1922. Three years after this, Rivadavia was also refit with oil-fired boilers, overhauled machinery, and an improved fire control system. In 1927, the submarine 14 de Mayo, was ordered from OTO in Italy, entering service in 1929. ... On September 1, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany, and seized three Platano submarines under construction in Britain. In December, the German pocket battleship KMS Admiral Graf Spee found herself trapped in Montevideo by neutrality laws and the supposed presence of a large British fleet closing in on the Plate Estuary. Her commander, Captain Langsdorff, was ordered to scuttle the ship, but instead surrendered it to Platano authorities. After negotiations with the British, the Armada Platano kept the ship, renaming it the Río Plata, and sold the Rivadavia and Moreno to the Royal Navy. Río Plata, with a hand-picked crew, sailed off to Fore River for a year-long refit in January 1940, and returned armed with new 12"/50 guns based on those planned for the American Alaska-class cruisers, ten 5"/38 DP mounts (replacing the 5.9" secondary and 4.1" AA mounts), and general repairs and refitting. Río Plata gave the Armada Platano its first radar-equipped ship. ...

*1950s to 1970s
The first postwar ship purchase was the 1952 acquisition of the American cruiser Brooklyn, renamed the Belgrano. New

*1980s on
...In 1984, the Armada Platano and the Armada Aéreo Platano had developed independent visions for the future of their branch in the 1990s. The former sought to acquire a larger carrier, such as the French Foch, a new cruiser, such as the Italian Andrea Doria, and nuclear submarines; the latter sought to acquire new fighters to replace its aging Tunnans, along with replacement helicopters and new transports. In the budget battles, the Armada Aéreo won out, but when the Armada Aéreo's helicopter replacement program fell through in 1991, and the Armada Platano took the remaining funds for its own use, with a number of purchases considered - including the joint acquisition (with Argentina) of the ex-Soviet carrier Varyag. Ultimately, 12 Su-22 jet fighter-bombers, four Parchim-class corvettes, eight Kondor-class minesweepers, four Frosch I-class LSTs, nine Mi-14 SAR helicopters, and a battalion's worth of BTR-70 amphibious APCs were acquired. In 2002, the aging Intrépida-class fast attack boats were replaced by two Israeli Aliyas, which took on the same names; by this time, the aging cruiser Belgrano was shifted into the training role.

*Aircraft
Naval Air Corps and Naval Air Arm, 1919-1964 -
The Naval Air Corps, starting with the purchase of four Sopwith Camels in 1919, was the first aviation unit the Fuerzas Armadas Platanas. Though further Camels were not bought, 1920 saw the purchase of 12 Nieuport 28 biplane fighters and 8 Curtiss HS maritime patrol flying boats. In 1925, 20 of Dewoitine's D.21 monoplane fighter were purchased to replace the Camels and Nieuports, while 8 Curtiss Model 37 Falcon scout planes were also brought into service; four years later, the first bombers - 4 Curtiss Model 52 Condor biplanes - were acquired. Four Dewoitine D.26 trainers and 20 D.27 fighters were acquired in 1931, while 30 Curtiss SOC Seagull biplane scout seaplanes were bought between 1935 and 1938, when the Naval Air Corps was transferred to the Ejército's emerging Armada Aéreo. In 1961, when the AAP became an independent branch, the Armada Platano formed the Naval AIr Arm, purchasing 6 Canadair CL-28 patrol bombers and 12 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19P fighters after evaluative trials.

Carrier aviation: Rivadavia -
The Naval Air Arm got a shot in the arm in 1964, when the Armada purchased the HMAS Melbourne, an ex-British light carrier that had been damaged in a collision with a destroyer. Over the next two years, the carrier was refit and repaired, and an air group was assembled, training aboard the Argentine carrier Heroína. The Melbourne, renamed Rivadavia, fielded 8 F-9J Cougar jet fighters (out of 20 purchased), 6 S-2E Tracker ASW aircraft (out of 12 purchased), and 2 Westland Wessex HAS31 ASW helicopters (out of 12 purchased) starting in 1966. In 1975, with the Rivadavia coming due for refit in a year, the Armada began searching for a replacement for the Cougars, evaluating the proposed Sea Harrier FRS.1 (which would have required a ski-jump), the A-4J Skyhawk, the F-8E(FN) Crusader (which would have required a stretched flight deck), and a navalized Mirage V before finally selecting Dassault's proposed Super Étendard; temporarily, a squadron of 12 Étendard IVM strike fighters was acquired from the French Navy. From 1979 to 1992, when it left the Armada Platano, the airgroup of the refit Rivadavia consisted of 12 Super Étendards (out of 25 purchased) and 6 Trackers (out of nine survivors). To train aircrews, the Naval Air Arm acquired 10 Aerotec Uirapurus in 1975, replacing the aging Texans that had been acquired from the Ejército back in 1961.

Naval aviation: Mitre and other ships -
When Navantia's BPE design was selected as the replacement for the Rivadavia, a new airgroup was required. While Yakovlev's proposal to jointly develop their Yak-141 with Plavia and Lockheed Martin was briefly considered, the AV-8S Matador, already in use with the Spanish Navy, was selected for the strike fighter role, with 25 purchased in all. The choice of helicopters, on the other hand, was more complex. Initially, the Armada Platano had used the Westland Wessex as its primary ASW helicopter, starting with the Rivadavia herself back in 1966; however, when the Armada acquired the HMCS St. Laurent (renamed the Segui), a Canadian destroyer in 1974, it also acquired the ship's Sea King helicopter; 10 others were purchased and operated from shore. Meanwhile, the Reyes-class corvettes, the Almirante Brown-class destroyers, and the Belgrano operated SA-316B Alouette-IIIs, while the Hercules-class [Type 42] destroyer and the Constitución-class [Leander Batch 2] frigates operated Sea Lynx helicopters. The Armada Platano, seeking to standardize and cut down on maintenance costs, selected the AS-555 Fennec as a replacement for all light ASW helicopters then in service in 1991, retiring the Segui and the three Constitución-class frigates the same year. Forty Fennecs were acquired from 1991-1994; the six surviving Sea Kings, refit for the AEW role, were retained in service aboard the Mitre.

Naval aviation: land-based -
When the Armada Platano sold the Rivadavia to the scrapyard, it did not sell off its airgroup. In fact, it has not only retained the S-2Es (since refit into S-2T Turbo-Trackers) and Super Étendards, it has even acquired new aircraft: 12 East German Su-22M4 fighters refitted by Thomson-CSF to M5 standards in 1996, 9 ex-Soviet Mi-14 SAR helicopters, Pilatus PC-9M primary trainers and PC-9B target tugs, and two EMD-90 AWACS jets, which use the Israeli Phalcon phased array radar.

*Equipment
1 Mitre-class BPE [CVS]
1 Belgrano-class CA
4 Almirante Brown-class DDG
8 Reyes-class FSG
4 Vibora-class FS
2 Intrépida-class BRAM [FACM]
2 Santa Cruz-class SSK
4 Bahía de Samborombón-class BDT [LST]
8 Cormorán-class MSC
1 Enrique Mosconi-class BAL [AOR]
2 Francisco de Gurruchaga-class ROF [ATF]

25 AV-8S Matador
20 Super Étendard
12 Su-22M5
6 S-2T Tracker
40 AS-555 Fennec
2 EMD-90
6 Sea King AEW.1
9 Mi-14
5 Pilatus PC-9B
10 Pilatus PC-9M

Matra MAA-76 Mago
Raytheon MAA-90 Sidewinder {AIM-9L}
Vympel MAA-91 Brujo {R-60M}
Matra MAS-76 Marta {AS-37}
MBDA MAS-80 Exocet {AM39}
Selenia MSA-83 Víbora
KBM MSA-91 Dardo {SA-N-5}
MBDA MSS-75 Exocet {MM38}
MBDA MSS-82 Exocet {MM40}
IAI MSS-102 Gabriel {Gabriel Mk.II}

*Naval Infantry
The Batallón de Infantería del Armada Platano, with four infantry companies, a tank company (operating Soviet TS-65s [PT-76s]), an artillery battery (operating LVTH-6s), and support units, consists of 1566 troops in all. [history]

Armada Aéreo Platano
History, 1919-1960s -
The AAP dates back to 1919, when Platinea purchased four war-surplus Sopwith Camels for trials. The 1920s saw the formation of a corps of aviators within the navy, which acquired Dewoitine, Nieuport and Curtiss airplanes. In 1938, after the retirement of its long-serving general-in-chief Augusto Medillo, the Ejército purchased its first aircraft: 15 Curtiss Hawk 75O fighters, designed for rough-field performance. The surviving navy planes were transferred over with the rest of the naval air arm, which would not be reformed until the 1960s. In 1939, Plavia obtained a license to produce Curtiss Hawks domestically, and by 1942, the army's air arm had swelled to 50 Hawks, along with 6 Douglas B-18 Bolo bombers. In 1945, these planes were replaced by 10 war surplus Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers and 40 Hawker Hurricane IV fighters. Plavia's efforts to build an indigenous jet fighter in the early 1950s nearly bankrupted the company; fortunately for it, in 1955, Platinea successfully negotiated a contract for Plavia to build F-86FP Sabres, armed with two Hispano 20mm cannon instead of 6 machine guns. From 1956 to 1959, 100 F-86FP jets were built for Platinea's new Armada Aéreo Platano, which became independent of the Ejército in 1961. The F-86FP proved adequate, but by 1963, when Chile acquired supersonic Super Mystères, the AAP felt compelled to purchase a replacement, selecting the Saab J32B in 1964. Forty were purchased in all; armed with MAA-63 Sidewinders and MAA-67 Falcons, they provided an effective deterrent to any regional opponent of the era.

-History, 1970s on
In 1970, the Armada Aéreo decided to acquire a new transport fleet, replacing the small force of surplus DC-3s; four Lockheed Martin C-130B and eight Aeritalia G.222 transports were purchased over the next two years. In 1974, after competitive evaluations with the Saab 105, the Soko J-20, the BAC Strikemaster, and the North American Rockwell OV-10D Bronco, Fabrica Militar de Argentina's IA-58 Pucará was selected as the Armada Aéreo's new ground attack aircraft; 32 were acquired in all, starting in 1975. Two years later, 20 Beechcraft T-34C Turbo-Mentor trainers were purchased, replacing the T-6 as the primary trainer of the Armada Aéreo. In 1980, the Armada Aéreo began to consider new aircraft to replace the J32Bs, along with new air-to-air missiles to replace the aging Sidewinders and Falcons. A new AAM was selected first, with the Rafael Python-3 beating out the Raytheon AIM-9N, the Matra R550 Magic, the Vympel R-60, and the EOTDC PL-3; with that selection made, tentative Soviet proposals to export the Sukhoi Su-22 or Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis were withdrawn, leaving the Dassault Mirage 2000, the General Dynamics F-16 Viper, the IAI Kfir C.2, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, the Northrop F-20 Tigershark, and the Shenyang J-8II. Evaluative trials in 1984 and 1985 led to the selection of the Viper, and astute Platano negotiators won domestic production rights for Plavia. The Lansens they replaced were mostly sold to scrap yards, though two were converted into target tugs. In 1989, the Armada Aéreo purchased two Nord N-2501 Gabriel SIGINT planes from the French Air Force, along with ten new-built Transall C-160NG transports, two configured as tankers. Since then, apart from the 2007 purchase of 13 Super Tucano advanced trainers and 8 Su-29 aerobatics planes, the Armada Aéreo has acquired no new airplanes. After the collapse of the AC-10 program, it has been budgeted funds to purchase new fighters to replace the Vipers.

-Helicopters
The first Armada Aéreo helicopters, 20 Aérospatiale SA-321 Super Frelon heavy transports, were acquired in 1975-1977; these were soon nicknamed Caballos, as they carried the Gauchos of the 1^o Batallón de Caballería Aérea, the first air cavalry unit fielded in Platinea. Over time, as the Battalón grew into a regiment, and later a division, new helicopters were acquired - UH-1N light utility helicopters in 1978-1979, AH-1J-International attack helicopters in 1980, MBB Bo-105CB scout helicopters in 1982, and AS-532UL/AL Cougar medium transport helicopters in 1985. A program to develop new, locally-produced attack and utility helicopters with the cooperation of Argentina, begun in 1984, was ultimately canceled in 1990. The Caballos were retired in 1998, replaced by CH-47Ds.

Current aircraft -
42 Plavia/General Dynamics F-16AP Viper jet fighters
8 Plavia/General Dynamics F-16BP Viper jet lead-in trainers
21 FMA IA-58A Pucará ground attack planes
8 Aeritalia G.222 transport planes
4 Lockheed Martin C-130B Hercules transport planes
8 Transall C160NG transport planes
2 Transall C160NG tanker-transports
2 Nord N-2501 Gabriel SIGINT planes
13 Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano advanced trainers
18 Beechcraft T-34C Turbo-Mentor primary trainers
2 Saab J32D Lansen target tugs
10 Cessna A-182 Skylane utility planes
8 Sukhoi Su-29 aerobatics planes

Current weapons -
Rafael MAA-82 Cobra short-range air-to-air missile
Rafael MAA-97 Cobra-2 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile
Arsenal Montevideo MAS-85 Pescador air-to-surface missile

Future equipment of the Fuerzas Armadas:
-The Lyran-Yanitarian AY-144L, designated FIN 6.5 by the Ejército Platano, has been selected to replace the FI 7.62, FIA 7.62, and FIC 7.62.
-The Naval Air Arm of the Armada Platano has acquired 10 Lyran LY908 Warhawk fighter-bombers, supplementing (and ultimately replacing) the Super Étendard.

[WIP]

[Platinea]

*Land
-Rail
Railway construction began in the 1860s, as British investors sought to link cattle ranches with Rosario's meat-packing plants and port facilities. Domestic and foreign investment led to the completion of a national railway network in 1899, linking all 16 provinces. Steadily, the network expanded; by 1940, all cities with a population of at least 10000 were hooked up. Meanwhile, the collapse of many streetcar companies in the 1930s gave an opening for light rail. Montevideo's subway, opened in 1939, was the first such subway in Platinea, with 10 stops on a single line. Since then, it has expanded with the city, and now serves 84 stops on 8 lines, including at least one stop in each neighborhood of Montevideo.

-Road
The first macadam road was built in the 1840s, running from Montevideo to Rio Grande. Since then, the road networks of Platinea have steadily expanded, replacing the old wilderness tracks.

*Air
-History
Platinea's first airlines emerged in the 1920s. With the booming economy, the growing set of wealthy Platanos began to demand air travel.

-Aerolineas Platineas
In 1941, the Partido Radical, considering possible war needs, nationalized the three surviving airlines: Panair de Rosario, Aéreo Plata, and Linea Aérea Platinea. These were reformed into a single flag carrier, Aerolineas Platineas, flying Lockheed L-10 Electras and Junkers 52m3 trimotors from its base of operations in Montevideo. The first Convair CV-240 went into service in 1948; 20 were purchased in all, and half of these were converted into CV-540 turboprops in 1958.

Aerolineas Platineas fully entered the jet age in 1964, purchasing two Douglas DC-8 jetliners. Since then, it remained a valued customer of Douglas planes, acquiring DC-9s in 1969, DC-10s in 1976, and MD-80s throughout the 1980s. McDonnell Douglas began extensive collaboration with Plavia during this period, to the point of domestic production of MD-88s for Aerolineas Platineas - and its competitors. Aerolineas Platineas, in need of a new long-haul jet, gave significant input into the design of the MD-12, and served as its launch customer. Seeing growing competition from regional airlines, Aerolineas Platineas purchased domestically-manufactured MD-95s from 1997 on.

-Lineas Aéreas Privadas Platanas
LAPP, founded in 1996, is the largest domestic competitor to Aerolineas Platineas. Based out of Rosario, it started out with 6 Plavia/Embraer ABP-143 regional jets, flying routes to Corrientes and Entre Rios. Since then, it has added McDonnell Douglas MD-95s and Plavia AP-175s, and extended service out to Resistencia.

-Aéreo Tucumán
Aéreo Tucumán, founded in 2007, is owned by Jorge Montez, who ran the Chamber of Commerce of Tucumán from 2008 to 2010. It operates AP-175s exclusively, flying routes from San Miguel de Tucumán to San Salvador de Jujuy, Formosa, Tilcara, and elsewhere in the interior of Platinea.

*Sea
-The sea trade has played a vital role in the Platano economy.

-Canals

[WIP]

[Platinea]

*Political system
Platinea is a unitary parliamentary democracy. It is unitary, in that it features appointed governors and a centralized system; it is parliamentary, in that the legislature reigns supreme and parties reign supreme within the legislature; it is democratic in that it has regular elections (once every five years) with universal adult suffrage and voting by secret ballot.

*Current Political Parties of note:
-Platanos por Platinea: This party holds a single seat in the Cabildo. A highly jingoistic, xenophobic party, it is a fringe group.
-Partido Verde: This party is part of the governing coalition in the Cabildo, holding 60 seats. It is perhaps best described as a center-left party, with a strong environmental focus.
-Partido Liberal: This party is part of the governing coalition in the Cabildo, holding 80 seats. Generally holding classically liberal views, its leadership has successfully pivoted towards the center, taking power for the first time since 1980.
-Partido Católico: This party holds 23 seats in the Cabildo.
-Partido Autonomista: This party leads the official opposition, with 50 seats. A left-wing party, its implementation of Raúl Prebisch's Import-Substitution Industrialization plan won it success, but its inept handling of the oil shock of 1973 left it hurting for a generation. It failed to capitalize on the collapse of the Negrosa (Frente Comunista-NPR) coalition, but has benefited from the collapse of the Gris-Verde coalition.
-Nuevo Partido Libre: This party holds 3 seats in the Cabildo. Having splintered off from the Partido Liberal, it holds classically liberal views, seeking a minimalist government, free banking, and the promotion of federalism. The latter, in particular, has proven controversial in Platinea.
-Nuevo Partido Radical: This party holds just 3 seats in the Cabildo. Formed from the merger of the Partido Radical and the Partido Anarquista in 1909, the NPR represents trade-union syndicalism; as an anarchist movement, it came to be known as the 'Negro,' after the black flag that served as its party symbol.
-Moderado Partido Radical-Anarquista: This party holds 20 seats in the Cabildo. Having split off from the 'Negro' Nuevo Partido Radical, the MPRA came to be known as the 'Gris.'
-Frente Comunista: This party holds 10 seats in the Cabildo.

*Ministries
-Ministry of Defense: Run by Alberto Serrano (PV), the Ministry of Defense runs the Fuerzas Armadas. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 13% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Run by Juan O'Reilly (PL), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs Platinea's embassies, handles trade agreements, and manages its global standing. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 3% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of Finance: Run by Domingo Cavallo (PV), the Ministry of Finance manages the budget, handles taxation, minting and central banking operations, and runs the Policia de Finanza. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 2% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of Security: Run by Miguel Vargas (PL), the Ministry of Security runs the Fuerza de Policia Platano, the national police force, along with the Bomberos Platanos and the Paramédicos Platanos, the national firefighters and emergency medics, and the Sistema de Justicia, the judicial system of Platinea. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 13.5% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of the Interior: Run by Bernardini Ferré (PV), the Ministry of the Interior manages public lands and environmental policies. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 15% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of Commerce: Run by Hipolito Khouri (PL). According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 2.5% of the 2010-2011 budget (0.4% of GDP)
-Ministry of Tourism and Immigration: Run by Rafael Martínez (PL), the Ministry of Tourism and Immigration is generally responsible for attracting people to Platinea. It maintains the traditionally loose immigration policy first implemented in Act 11-2-1. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 5% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of Transportation: Run by Walter Vargas (PV), the Ministry of Transportation handles transportation issues - road, rail, sea, and air. Until privatization in 1999, Aerolineas Platineas was run under the aegis of the Ministry; it still runs Platinea's passenger rail service, along with light rail and subway services in Platinea's major cities. According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 17.5% of the 2010-2011 budget.
-Ministry of Education and Science: Run by Maria Sapag (PV), it administers the national education system, regulates universities and graduate schools through accreditation and public grants, and handles distribution of research grants, in collaboration with the privately-run Corporación Platano de Inversión en las Ciencias (CoPIC). According to Act 36-1-10, it will receive 20% of the 2010-2011 budget.

*Act 36-1-10
The Budget Act of 2010, incorporating previously passed revenue-raising legislation (such as Act 36-1-2, the implementation of cap-and-trade, and Act 36-1-6, the privatization of Plavia and implementation of the privatization board), and revenue-lowering legislation (such as Act 36-1-1, which increased the foreign affairs budget share and reduced tariff revenue, Act 36-1-8, which promised across-the-board tax cuts, and Act 36-1-9, the construction of a new terminal at Artigas Airport in Montevideo), along with plans for significant military procurement costs, ultimately produced a budget of $90 billion (about 15% of GDP). $11.7 billion - just under 2% of the total GDP - was allocated for the Ministry of Defense, $15.75 billion to the Ministry of Transportation, $13.5 billion to the Ministry of the Interior, $18 billion to the Ministry of Education and Science, $12.15 billion to the Ministry of Security, $4.5 billion to the Ministry of Tourism and Immigration, $2.7 billion to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, $2.25 billion to the Ministry of Commerce, $1.8 billion to the Ministry of Finance, and $7.65 billion to paying down the debt.

[WIP]

[Platinea]

*Social Safety Net
The social safety net of Platinea is, unusually, mostly run through nongovernmental organizations. Health insurance is provided by companies and their unions, which also run hospitals of their own. Unemployment benefits and social insurance, similarly, are provided by political parties and unions. These policies, which started to emerge under the Partido Radical, were set in stone under the NPR-Frente Comunista coalition, starting with Act 30-1-11, which provided significant tax benefits for organizations that set up their own health care plans for membership. Unions, in particular, took advantage of the provisions of the Act. Union-sponsored hospitals, like the Hospital 1^o de Mayo in Rosario or the Hospital Yriyogen in Corrientes, retain a good reputation, in spite of their origins in the Negrosa period.

*Culture
-Dance
Dance emerged as a strong, unique element of Platano culture during the second wave of immigrants.

[WIP]

[Platinea]

*First-wave immigration
When the Union of the River Plate split into Platinea and Argentina, it brought a much-needed measure of stability to the region. By the late 1840s, both states became fairly attractive options for immigrants. Spaniards fleeing the Carlist Wars, Irish refugees from the Potato Famine, disillusioned German and north-Italian liberals, and others moved to the region in modest numbers. For instance, from 1830 to 1860, an estimated 6000 Irish immigrated to Platinea, and 6500 to Argentina, both peaking in 1850. Immigrants of this wave were generally lower-middle class, and tended to find jobs as shepherds or tenant farmers on the vast estates of the region, or as artisans and skilled laborers in the cities. They were generally hit harder by infectious disease outbreaks, due to crowding and poor public health policy.

*Colonization attempts
Starting with the Formosa scheme of 1863, Platinea and Argentina continually attempted to attract specific groups of immigrants in colonization schemes. In a colonization scheme, prospective migrants were encouraged to settle their families on sizable tracts of land and often given fairly generous financial incentives. Generally, specific population groups were targeted, such as the French in Pampas, the Basques in Santa Cruz, or the Jews in Entre Rios; as the 19th century wore on, 'Nordic' populations were targeted especially strongly. Few of these succeeded. They were ill-conceived, mis-targeted, and generally ignored. Immigrants only came when there were jobs waiting, and rarely went as families; instead, the trend was for ambitious individuals to cross the Atlantic alone, only bringing the rest of their families once they had made their fortunes. Worse, colonization schemes were generally designed to attract immigrants to regions that didn't really have the jobs to support them; few immigrants wanted to settle Patagonia or the Platano interior. Overall, targeted immigration schemes were generally failures; the only modestly successful program of this sort was Entre Rios, which attracted Jewish immigrants in reasonable numbers, helping settle the area.

*Second-wave immigration
From 1870 to 1914, three million immigrants came to the Plate. Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Corrientes served as the primary entry ports for immigrants to the region. Immigrants came primarily from Mediterranean countries, particularly Spain and Italy; other groups, such as Germans, Swedes, Slavs and Jews came, but in far smaller numbers. Immigrant societies, such as the Liga Española, provided support and maintained ties with the homeland; nonetheless, larger immigrant populations, such as the Italians and Spanish, assimilated faster than smaller ones. Still, until 1914, most immigrants did not become citizens of Plate River states. Immigrant societies took in contributions from immigrants who had succeeded, and used the funds to provide pensions, run insurance programs, even operate hospitals. Second-wave immigration brought in new workers, but also new ideas - in particular, anarchism, brought over by exiled Spaniards and Italians. While anarchism was generally ignored at first, a mounting campaign of anarchist terrorism, including assassinations of police chiefs and industrialists, led to Act 15-3-20 in Platinea, and the similar Law of Civil Defense in Argentina, both passed in 1912, which established the right to deport anarchists.

WIP