Texas Air National Guard serving in Haiti

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Gonda Moncada
  • Texas Miltary Forces Public Affairs
An aircraft that has proven its tremendous value during many of the recent hurricanes, was deployed to Haiti last week.

     The RC-26, an aircraft traditionally used in support of drug interdiction and law enforcement missions, was heavily utilized during Hurricanes Katrina and many storms thereafter, but has also seen many overseas rotations.

     The RC-26 can be deployed at the request of federal, state and local law enforcement. "It is a very responsive Intelligence and Surveillance platform and extremely suitable to Incident Awareness Assessment (IAA) with crews that are proven to be highly adaptable to any real-world tasking," said Col. Russell Malesky, Texas Air National Guard Director of Staff.

     He added: This is another critical mission that helps protect and save lives and our members were eager to deploy and assist the people of Haiti."

     Aircraft and crew departed from Ellington on 21 January, 2010, for a 30-day mission.