Recycling old AF stuff
This adds a bit to AW1Ed’s column of deploying assets on our southern flank.
The Air Force is finding some love for assets many of you probably thought had gone away.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin has confirmed that U-2 Dragon Lady spy planes have been flying missions around the border with Mexico.
CNN was first to report the use of U-2s in support of current operations along the southwestern border back in February, but citing unnamed officials. That story followed news that RC-135V/Ws, as well as U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes, were also flying surveillance missions around Mexico, including sorties over the Gulf of California.
Dragon Ladies, Rivet Joints, Poseidons – these are some seriously capable…and old… platforms. I mean, the P-8A Poseidon is based on a – wait for it – 737. The RC-135? on a seven – OH -seven. Lotta you dickweeds (and maybe dickweedettes) may have never SEEN such a critter. And the U-2? Think 1955. Think Francis Gary Powers getting shot down in one in 1960. So at least two of the three predate that Kennedy assassination they are supposed to release all the files on Tuesday….(and as I write this at 1800 hrs…crickets.) To put it in modern terms – they been around since even before those two Boeing astronauts went up (well, not that much before. Welcome home to our 271 day wonders!)
Some of you intel weenies are probably aware that the U2 has never gone out of service, and is a damn good platform for what it’s asked to do. We built GOOD in the ’50s.
In February, there were also reports that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was conducting surveillance flights inside Mexican airspace using MQ-9 Reaper drones. Authorities in Mexico subsequently confirmed that the U.S. government had been conducting aerial ISR operations inside the country, and that this had helped with the arrest of at least two senior cartel members.
Just earlier this week, TWZ reached out to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in California, the Air Force’s U-2 hub, for more information about the use of those aircraft specifically in support of current border security operations. Those queries were subsequently forwarded first to Air Combat Command (ACC) and then to NORTHCOM.
Not shockingly, the response from NORTHCOM basically said “no comment.” (they just took fourteen times as long.)
“At this time, we are not commenting about any specific ISR platforms related to southern border missions,” a NORTHCOM spokesperson told TWZ on Wednesday. “We do acknowledge that there is ISR supporting the mission, but again, we are not going to be specific about platforms.”
“We don’t discuss specifics on how we are using ISR assets to support DoD’s mission at the southern border,” the same spokesperson added today in response to a follow-up after Allvin made his post on X. The War Zone
Imagine being on a smuggling boat and see a 7373 in the distance…no problemo. The U-2? So high nobody is gonna see it.
Great use of our assets to get real-time info on the border. Keep it up!
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Air Force, Border, Navy
Now if they could just re-activate Puff the Magic Dragon to obliterate those smugglers once they cross the border north.
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.
Nuthin wrong with adding a little BRRRT action as well. The A-10 could be a bit intimidating to the cartels.
Yep!
The A10 is too new (but Gawd help the infantry if some pencil necked Good Idea Fairy Orificer finally DOES manage to get rid of those flying bathtubs).
I was thinking of the theme of today’s posting, resurrecting the moldy oldie goldies.
“The U-2? So high nobody is gonna see it”
It’s sister, the ME-2 uses secret cloak technology.
That’s why none have been seen yet.
It’s the #metoo.
While some may have never seen those platforms some of us old farts can recall far too well what they look like!
I do feel sorry for anyone who never flew airlines in the 70s….when you were treated like a valuable customer as opposed to being herded like cattle into a metal tube and treated like cattle….unless you pay a premium….current economy reminds me of similarities to the stories about sailing in steerage in the early 1900s…
I was on Davis-Monthan yesterday and had the pleasure of cruising through a part of the boneyard I’d never seen. Half a shitload of mothballed Navy P-whatevers looking for work. Drove by the remains of this big old bird:
https://militarymatters.online/forgotten-aircraft/decomposing-behemoth-the-convair-xc-99/
Dad was stationed at KI Sawyer AFB in the early 70’s and had to do some training, memory says near Dayton Oh. He decided to turn it into a family vacation as there was an Air museum, and seeing that big bird was a highlight for me!
Thanks for the link, I’m gonna go read the whole thing.
The XC-99 is dismantled and sitting on pallets, looks way too far gone to restore. I only recognized it because my dad was a B-36 navigator and had told me about it. I couldn’t find a picture anywhere on the interwebs and I wasn’t gonna take a picture at DM. They kinda frown on that sort of thing.
Google bird’s eye view
Any Skyraiders left?
Hehehe imagine the look on the faces of some cartel clowns when they hear that big ass radial engine wound out and headed after them…