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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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Outlulz t1_j1usiqb wrote

And the Air Force doesn’t think domestic drug enforcement should be their job anyway.

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mtarascio t1_j1uy0ib wrote

They did think opportunities for real missions were useful though.

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banjo_assassin t1_j1utuec wrote

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.

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protoopus t1_j1w4pj8 wrote

that was air america, the CIA flight resource.

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johnhummel t1_j1uyb23 wrote

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!

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d01100100 t1_j1v2yfn wrote

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_j1v9z2c wrote

Shouldn’t this really be the concern and the responsibility of the DEA?

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d01100100 t1_j1vf1nc wrote

There's multiple departments this could fall into.

DEA shares concurrent jurisdiction with the FBI, ICE and CBP (both of which are under the DOJ and DHS). Getting the USAF involves just includes another high level department (DOD).

The DEA has its own aviation division. It has approximately 135 Special Agent/Pilots and 100 aircraft.

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fvb955cd t1_j1wj8ua wrote

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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sawyouoverthere t1_j1uuaux wrote

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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bigbura t1_j1w15nu wrote

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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