Twin-engine RC-26 spy planes have been responsible for saving tens of thousands of American lives over the past few years as National Guard pilots have used them to track and apprehend fentanyl smugglers, taking hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills off the streets.
However, the Air Force has decided to destroy and scrap the planes used in border surveillance and drug enforcement.
The planes were supposed to continue flying missions until funding for the program ran out in 2023, but instead the Air Force abruptly ordered the spy planes be sent to the boneyard to be scrapped for parts this month.
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who flies the RC-26 as a pilot in the National Guard and has been fighting to keep the planes from being scrapped as they are essential in the fight against fentanyl said that the shift appears to be a move to destroy the planes in order to prevent plans to save them.
"That is the only reason I can see that they have decided to speed it up as quickly as they have," he said.
Kinzinger talked to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall about the planes' essential role but was told in no uncertain terms that drug enforcement was not part of the Department of Defense's priorities under this administration.
"He basically made clear that DoD business is not, in essence, domestic drug issues even though DoD is one of the primary people responsible," Kinzinger said about the meeting.
"We are the only capable border plane. We were pulled from the border under Biden, and they are now killing us," he added.
Law enforcement officials around the country have also made their cases for keeping the RC-26, but all to no avail.
One law enforcement official said that taking away the RC-26 would remove one of the biggest advantages they have in stopping traffickers from flooding the market with the fentanyl and killing...
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7 comments:
Those aircraft are long out of production and are actually dangerous to fly at this point. I worked on Swearingen Metro's at a commuter airline back in the 70's and they were pretty iffy when they were new. I don't doubt that the mission is still needed but they need a different platform. If you think going forward with those airframes is a good idea you're just kidding yourself.
What Mikey said....they're probably going to be replaced with King Airs.
If they are replaced at all. The border is secure, remember?
At this point, I don't believe ANYTHING Kissassinger says, does or thinks. F him.
The plan is to kill as many of us as possible by any means necessary from drugs to the poison poke.
Without fentanyl, the narcon cartel would suffer great losses.
Basic narconomics.
But….did Adam cry about it??
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