The Air Force is planning to eliminate its small fleet of surveillance planes used to counter drug smuggling at the border by the end of the month — abruptly moving up its original deadline by four months.
National Guard pilots must fly their aircraft to the Boneyard before the end of the month so the planes can be stripped for parts, according to documents circulated to branch members obtained by CNN. The updated plan marks an escalation in the service branch’s efforts to phase out the fleet despite its reliance on the planes to intercept drug smuggling missions at the border.
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The Air Force initially told pilots earlier this year it would be scrapping the fleet of RC-26 planes due to a lack of funding from Congress for the aircraft, telling service members they would cease to fly missions beginning in April 2023, according to internal memos obtained by the outlet. The aircraft would then be sold to entities outside the Defense Department.
However, pilots received new orders in November that instructed them to fly their planes to the Boneyard by the end of the year so that the aircraft would instead be scrapped for parts, documents show.
“The impact this plane and these operators have had in reducing, disrupting and damaging operations of illegal narcotics has been amazing and I am proud to have served alongside you,” one pilot wrote to his colleagues in an email.
With the elimination of the RC-26 fleet, the service branch is expected to lose 80 of its pilots at a time when the Air Force is already facing a servicewide shortage, sources told CNN. Multiple service members described the shift as a “drastic change” that came without warning, and it comes as the Biden administration is already facing criticisms for its border policies.
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“We are the only capable border plane,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who flies the RC-26 plane for the National Guard, told CNN. “We were pulled from the border under Biden, and they are now killing us.”
Law enforcement officials have lamented that the decision to retire the aircraft will hinder their ability to stifle drug trafficking missions, particularly the large quantities of fentanyl being smuggled at the southern border. It’s not clear if the Air Force will continue these efforts with other aircraft, but sources told CNN the service branch does not currently plan to replace the fleet’s capabilities.
