U-27A / C-16
The Cessna Aircraft Company's Caravan I -- designated the U-27A by the Department of Defense -- is a single-engine, high-wing aircraft costing $825,000. Its oversized tires allow operation from soft or unimproved fields, and its cabin holds up to 12 passengers. Because of their reliability and flexibility, Caravans are in service with armies, air forces, police forces, and other government agencies around the world. One export sales variant of the U-27A boasts various hardpoints for weapons, as well as a three-barrel Gatling gun that pokes ominously from the port cargo door. Equipped with an optional spray system, the U-27A can apply pesticides to crops, thus improving agriculture and perhaps eliminating such disease-bearing pests as mosquitoes. Eradication of the narcotics trade is another possible mission. The U-27A's ability to accommodate either a rifle squad or 3,835 pounds of cargo is well suited to counterinsurgency (COIN) military operations, which are primarily small-unit infantry engagements. Although not a short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft in the strictest sense, the U-27A can still operate from fields 2,170 feet in length.
The C-16 designation was assigned to Cessa Caravan CE-208 aircraft intended for use by the Army for missions against leftist forces in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the mid-1980s. In fact, the aircraft were apparently not accepted for service.
