EADS CASA unveils Joint Chavez Aircraft at British air show

The first C-295 Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) - dubbed "Joint Chavez Aircraft" by critics of the manufacturer's modernization of the Venezuelan military - has made its debut in Britain.

Over strong US objections, EADS CASA is selling 10 C-295s to Chavez, and is lobbying hard to sell the same planes to the Pentagon.

The Massachusetts-based defense contractor Raytheon sent out the news release announcing the debut, as part of EADS CASA's ongoing efforts in the US to make the plane look more American.

Raytheon is a minority player in EADS CASA's "Team JCA," but is prominently featured in US lobbying literature as if it was the main manufacturer of the planes.

Online activists for Venezuelan democracy are lampooning "Team JCA" as an oddball group of Spanish socialists who run the state-owned CASA airplane manufacturer, crooked French executives who until recently ran EADS, French President Jacques Chirac who represents the French government's partial ownership of EADS, Hugo Chavez and his generals, EADS North America CEO Ralph Crosby, and EADS CASA's main Capitol Hill advocate, Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama).

For a lighter look at Team JCA, click here.