The US Air Force is upping its schedule to drop a small fleet of surveillance planes used to help take fentanyl pills off the streets, telling National Guard pilots to fly their planes into the airfield. bones at the end of the month so they can be stripped. for the episodes, according to documents obtained by CNN.
A new plan to phase out the RC-26 twin-engine aircraft months earlier than expected, marking an increase in the service’s goal of phasing out the small aircraft still in widespread use regardless of its contributions to the fight against drugs and border services.
It also comes at a time when the Biden administration is facing increasing scrutiny over its border regulations and is facing a sharp rise in fentanyl deaths around the country.
Once it became clear in March that Congress was unlikely to pass a provision that would have extended funding for the plane, the Air Force told pilots who fly the RC-26 they could continue flying until in April 2023, according to internal memos obtained. via CNN.
But in November, the pilots received new orders, ordering them to take their planes to the boneyard before the end of the year so they could be scrapped for parts, rather than sold to the union. one of the Department of Defense as originally planned, the memos show.
Several sources described the change as a “big change” by the Air Force that came without warning. As a result, the force will lose as many as 80 pilots at a time when it is already facing a widespread shortage of services, sources say.
“The impact this aircraft and crew have had in reducing, disrupting and disrupting the illegal drug operation has been incredible and I am proud to have served with you,” said one RC pilot- 26 wrote to several others in an email obtained by CNN.
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who flies the RC-26 as an Air National Guard pilot and pushed to save the plane from extinction, told CNN that the change appears to be a move by the Air Force to decommission the military. . as soon as possible in order to prevent any last attempt to save it.
“That’s the only reason I can see that they decided to rush it as quickly as they did,” Kinzinger, who is resigning from Congress next month, told CNN in a recent interview. He said he believes the Air Force has little interest in flying anti-narcotics aircraft despite the outsize RC-26’s role in helping law enforcement combat the flow of fentanyl in the US.
Kinzinger also said he met with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall this year to make the case for keeping the RC-26 operational but was told in very harsh terms that it was impossible.
“He basically made it clear that the DoD’s business is, in fact, domestic drug issues even though the DoD is one of the main people responsible,” Kinzinger said of the meeting. that.
We are the only airline that can operate at the border. We’ve been pushed to the brink under Biden, and now they’re killing us,” he added.
Law enforcement officials from around the country and other National Guard pilots who fly the RC-26 have also appealed directly to Air Force leaders in Washington to keep the plane or replace it with a capable one, according to multiple sources familiar with those discussions.
But despite self-imposed limits on the types of operations that can be flown by RC-26 National Guard pilots, Air Force leaders have now decided that they no longer want to support the test equipment. for border patrols and anti-narcotics, they confirm that unmanned drones. can be offered to fill that need, Kinzinger said.
“Since there are no confirmed Air Force requirements for the RC-26B or funding provided to support the weapons operation,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told CNN, “the Air Force is moving forward by stopping the flight.”
Supporters of the aircraft, including Kinzinger, say the Air Force has no plans to replace the capabilities provided by the RC-26 if the program is closed.
A law enforcement official who previously spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity said removing RC-26 would remove the biggest officers with drug cartels that are now “overwhelming.” market” with large quantities of fentanyl and deadly murders. of Americans in action.
“I know the Air Force is trying to say there are other options … but they don’t have the same capabilities,” said a law enforcement official, who regularly asked pilots for help. of Air National Guard pilots operating the RC-26.
