Yeah, you heard me. From StrategyPage:
Refugees from North Korea report that the air force there has ceased, or greatly reduced, training flights of the 300 An-2 aircraft it maintains for delivering commandos into South Korea. The reason is apparently lack of fuel, and spare parts to keep the fleet of 30-40 year old aircraft, in working order. The AN-2 is a strange bird. It’s a single engine bi-plane made mostly of wood and canvas. This makes it difficult to pick up on radar, especially if it’s coming in low.
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It can carry up to a dozen passengers. The An-2 can fly as slow as 60 kilometers an hour, making it excellent for crop dusting, or parachuting commandos to a precise location. Its range of 800 kilometers is sufficient to reach most of South Korea.
(Image of AN-2 – probably not North Korean – from Aerospaceweb.org)
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If it was any other country I’d be surprised. But after reading about all the tunnels they’ve dug under the DMZ, the terrorist bombing of ROK cabinet ministers, kidnapping of Japanese citizens, nothing coming from the DPRK surprises me.
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It just sounds so low-tech, doesn’t it? And yet, if it works, it works. These things are apparently pretty stealthy, and up until now, they’ve been inexpensive as well.
Sounds like a winning combination for a cash-strapped country.