Unsung ISR Platform Key to Counterdrug Ops
Based on Fairchild Swearingen’s Metroliner twin-turboprop commuter airliner, the RC-26 is an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform in service with the United States Air Force, Navy, and Army. Notwithstanding the extent to which the aircraft is relied upon to monitor fentanyl smuggling across the U.S./Mexico border, the National Guard received orders in November to advance the RC-26’s retirement date from April 2023 to year’s end 2022. No plans currently exist to replace the platform.