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billpalto t1_j1ujyhb wrote

The headline isn't very clear. Congress decided to eliminate the plane, not the Air Force. Without funding, the Air Force can't keep flying the plane.

All this article says is that the Air Force decided to speed up the inevitable termination of the plane and its mission, and use drones instead.

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Kaysic t1_j1uleym wrote

>“[SECAF Kendall] 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.

The DoD being one of the "primary people responsible" for counter-narcotic operations is a self-perpetuating mission requirement. The DoD is responsible for military operations, not law enforcement and counternarcotics. Counternarcotic and border control support was an opportunistic mission - a way to make better use of sorties that would've otherwise just been empty training flights. The RC-26's original, tactical mission has been supplanted by objectively better platforms, both manned and unmanned - and the "side bonus" of counternarcotics can't itself justify the airframe's continued use.

It's like planning a road trip to some big destination and planning to stop for coffee along the way - then deciding not to go to the destination, but still driving out to the "on the way" coffee place hundreds of miles away.

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the_man_in_the_box t1_j1upm9n wrote

I read the headline 4 times through and read “plans” as “planes” every time and couldn’t grasp how faster planes meant eliminated planes.

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banjo_assassin t1_j1utuec wrote

Replying to Outlulz (#1,093,416)

Not with their deep roots in importing heroin from Vietnam anyway. Or their help with the coke during the contra wars in Central America. Kinda flies in the face of their unspoken mantra.

−31

sawyouoverthere t1_j1uuaux wrote

Replying to billpalto (#1,092,280)

Lol and yours took a minute to parse as well.

> Congress decided to eliminate the plane, not the Air Force.

Should really be

“Congress, not the Air Force, decided to eliminate the plane.”

So it doesn’t read like Congress chose between the plane and the AF

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senditFrmU2M t1_j1uv2d1 wrote

Aka switching to drones, didn’t read I just served so I know how our shady government operates.

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johnhummel t1_j1uyb23 wrote

Replying to banjo_assassin (#1,093,574)

America: Drugs are bad you should go to jail and have your life ruined (especially if you’re black).

Also America: Hey black people could you buy some drugs from then military so we can secretly fund people who will kill nuns and people who don’t think our companies should exploit them!

−5

redander t1_j1uzeew wrote

How successful were the planes? I want the data. Also, wouldn't drones be more efficient for watching the border and cost effective?

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d01100100 t1_j1v2yfn wrote

Replying to billpalto (#1,092,280)

The C-26 is based off a 1970's airliner that hasn't been produced for over 2 decades. It becomes prohibitively more expensive to support a growing list of airframes that are no longer in production (i.e. B-52s, A-10s), and for a task they don't feel should be their job they're not going to fight for it.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/rc-26-has-run-its-useful-life-but-keeping-it-around-costs-air-national-guard-30-million-per-year/

> Specifically, keeping the 11 RC-26s still in the fleet costs the Air National Guard $30 million per year, Loh said.

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damnthistrafficjam t1_j1v9eyx wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,093,314)

I also wondered about this. The problem, I think, is that so many street drugs are being cut with it, and it’s becoming cheaper to use. Obviously it’s not a regulated thing, so it would not be unusual for the “cooks” to fuck things up, and kill a lot of people.

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lvlint67 t1_j1vibtr wrote

Replying to redander (#1,094,312)

Unmanned systems are likely the future for aerial patrol missions.

Right now the main reason they aren't used more is because the FAA is still trying to figure out how to handle beyond visual line of sight operations

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shavedmonspubis t1_j1vrncn wrote

Gee I wonder why they don't want to see what is happening??

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bigbura t1_j1w15nu wrote

Replying to billpalto (#1,092,280)

The article didn't make much hay about the funding either. Seems there was another agenda more important than accurately representing the situation at hand. Now why would that be?

Had the AF decided to 'find the money' and continue the program would this piece have taken the AF to task for defying Congress' wishes?

Are we missing the whole point of the DoD being charged to be 'responsible stewards of taxpayer money and resources'? I could see this article being written to highlight the AF's efforts to live up to their mandate, doing Congress' bidding and all that.

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Sinhika t1_j1w31x5 wrote

As they should. The military has no business being involved in domestic law enforcement, per the Posse Comitatus Act. When the military is your law enforcement, you are living in a military dictatorship.

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fvb955cd t1_j1wj8ua wrote

Replying to d01100100 (#1,096,612)

DEA is also dwarfed by DHS/Customs, which has 240 aircraft, putting it between the Cuban and Saudi Arabian air forces for the most air assets, at number 21 overall. A lot of their stuff is dod hand-me-downs like awacs, p3s, predator drones, whereas DEA seems to mostly be Cessnas and the like.

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keskeskes1066 t1_j1wyebj wrote

Replying to damnthistrafficjam (#1,095,850)

In real life, the street "chemists" are not like Walter White, but like the stupidest character in a John Hughs teen movie, only drugged to the gills to boot.

Or, more recently, Jessie Pinkman. Stoned. Imagine someone who thinks drugs are mixed according to color and measured with souvenir spoons or handfuls.

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crackhousebob t1_j1wzh84 wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,093,314)

A tiny grain of Fentynal is enough to kill someone and it's being cut with cocaine and heroin unbeknownst to users. Crack is highly addictive sure but it doesn't kill you upon inhalation.

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