The appearance is normal, because this vehicle uses a propeller plane platform made by Fairchild Aircraft, the C-26 Metroliner. But from its mediocre impression, the plane that is labeled as the RC-26 Condor has great services in various covert reconnaissance operations carried out by the Government of Uncle Sam's Country. Call it anti-narcotics operations and other clandestine missions.
And, recently there was news that the US Air Force had retired its fleet of RC-26 Condors. Quoted from TheDrive.com (4/1/2023), it is said that the RC-26 is one of the most unknown military assets. This twin turboprop aircraft looks inconspicuous, but it has had a distinguished career fighting drug lords and is a versatile asset for a variety of covert missions.
Among US military observers, the RC-26 Condor is referred to as "The Little Spy Plane." The Pentagon has released photos showing the final flight of the RC-26 at Truax Field Air National Guard Base, which shares the same location as the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin.
At Truax Field Air National Guard Base, the 115th Fighter Wing (FW) — better known as the F-16 fighter jet operator — completed operations with the RC-26 on 28 December 2022. It noted that the RC-26 had been present at Truax since January 1992 .
Finally, RC-26s supported Truax's counter-drug operations, with seven 115th FW pilots and two Military Information Support Operators (MISO) assigned to the mission. In addition to working with state and federal authorities to combat narcotics, the team is also available to fly counter-insurgency and homeland security missions.
However, the US Air Force decided to retire all (11) RC-26s in its entire fleet as a cost-saving measure, and replace reconnaissance assets with drones.
Apart from only being operated by the US military, the exact payload carried by the RC-26 is indeed mysterious. A military observer group in the US said the RC-26 with belly pod container was equipped with a variety of high-quality imaging sensors.
What kind of sensor is in the belly pod, there is no exact information about it. What is clear is that in February 2019, Elbit Systems of America has been appointed to upgrade the RC-26 electronic device.
It is suspected that the full motion video (FMV) feature is used when monitoring demonstrations and riots. Meanwhile, it is believed that the imaging sensor on the RC-26 cannot detect it up to the level of face recognition and identification of car plates.
Military officials in Washington said that the FMV output of the RC-26 can be viewed in real time from the smartphone of the Commander of the National Guard. Powered by two Allied Signal Garrett TPE-331-11U-601G turboprops engines, the RC-26 Condor with 24 passengers can accelerate with a maximum speed of 533 km per hour and fly a distance of 3,750 km.
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