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Available ISR Aircraft – Surplus USAF MC-12W King Airs – June 2012 Sharing the Wealth: Are ex-USAF MC-12Ws the tactical Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR) Boost that the RCAF Requires? By Jim Dorschner [1] Ed: Lt-Col Dorschner lays out the advantages of acquiring readily-available ISR assets in the form of  soon-to-be-surplus USAF MC-12W Liberty 'platforms'.  The author notes that similar B200 King Air aircraft operate with MEUF, the CFB Trenton-based Multi-Engine Utility Flight (by contractor, Aero Support Canada). We would add  that CT-145 King Airs have trained CF pilots for decades. There was also mysterious mentions of two converted ISR B300 King Airs (under a US Army contract) for Canadian Forces use in Afghanistan. The point being that the King Air aircraft is hardly unfamiliar to the CF. The question is: will DND see the opportunity? Sharing the Wealth: Redundant USAF MC-12Ws are Available to Boost RCAF Capabilites On 30 May 2012, US Deputy Defence Secretary Ashton Carter stated that, beginning in 2014, some US Air Force MC-12W Liberty tactical  Intelligence, Surveillance, and  Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft may be withdrawn from service. When that withdrawl occur, these ISR platforms would become available for use by appropriate allies such as Canada and Mexico. This could also be an opportunity to enhance  regional capabilities  in Central America by establishing a new, multi-national tactical ISR unit with American – and potentially Canadian – sponsorship. With the pending withdrawal of  US combat forces from Afghanistan from 2014, around 27 of the USAF's 42 MC-12W aircraft will be shifted  to Air National Guard  units across the United States. A few other  MC-12Ws will be retained  in the USAF's active inventory  for training at Beale AFB in California. This leaves a balance of 10-12 surplus aircraft available for transfer to appropriate allies and/or for the establishment of  a  Central America-based  regional  ISR unit. The MC-12W was based on the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 and developed in 2008 under Project Liberty. According to Dr. Carter, the MC-12W was intended as "very much of a quick- reaction type of  fleet".  MC-12Ws have electro-optical and infrared sensors in belly-mounted turrets (with an integrated laser illuminator/designator). Imagery collected from those sensors is fed to line-of-sight and  SATCOM datalinks via a  Signals Intelligence suite.  Optimized  for counter-insurgency and  Special Operations Forces ( SOF ) missions in  Iraq and Afghanistan, MC-12Ws are operated by a crew of four: two pilots, an optical sensor operator, and a signals intelligence specialist. The King Air  'platform' is relatively simple to fly, operate, and maintain. An MC-12W has significant endurance/loiter capability and can self-deploy around the world. RCAF Prospects  –  Potential Tactical ISR Support for CANSOFCOM  and  Regular Forces Four  MC-12Ws in service with the Royal Canadian Air Force  would provide a cost-effective, easily integrated and supported multi-role tactical ISR capability, principally for SOF support, but also in support of general-purpose forces and as a valuable asset for international  Peace- keeping Operations ( PKO ) and disaster response in Canada and overseas. Taking advantage of  the MC-12W's relatively low profile, small footprint, and  rapid reaction capability, support to Canadian Special Operations Forces Command  ( CANSOFCOM ) would include providing ISR coverage and  serving as an airborne command and control  ( C2 ) over-watch platform for domestic counter-terrorism and  international operations as part of a SOF task force. Missions might  include  rapid deployment to a conflict zone for  non-combatant  personnel evacuation, securing  Canadian and  'friendly' diplomatic missions, or  apprehending  war crimes suspects. The same attributes would apply for international PKOs and disaster relief scenarios such as those undertaken  in Darfur or Haiti. For training support  for SOF and  to the wider Canadian Forces generally,  the MC-12Ws can serve as  surrogate UAV platforms in restricted airspace [accommodating  Transport Canada ] or as  integrated  tactical  ISR assets  in  their own  right. Canadian  MC-12Ws could  be easily blended  into the RCAF, bedding down at  CFB Trenton alongside two leased King Air B200 utility aircraft  [of the Multi-Engine Utility Flight ] already there to form a new unit, ' 418 Special Operations Squadron '.  Sufficient ISR expertise exists in the Royal Canadian Air Force already to permit a rapid transition to full operational capability. Competition from the South – Prospects for Multi-National  MC-12W  Use in Latin America Further south, the Central American nations are the latest  'frontline' in the 'war'  to combat the corrosive  influence of  Mexican and  South American crime cartels.  Assistance and guidance from the US and Canada  has allowed  those Central American countries to improve individual national capabilities along with enhance cross-border coordination. A small force of  MC-12W aircraft would be ideal platforms for monitoring the vast swathes of  rugged,  thinly-populated terrain in Central America where, at present, crime cartel operatives are now busy establishing transshipment 'lily pads' in the form of covert airstrips, drop zones, boat landings, and storage hide sites in Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Panama. As few as three-to-four  MC-12Ws operated  by multi-national  crews could  provide a critical level of standardized ISR coverage and airborne C2 capability in the region. Such an ISR force would support the kind of  fast moving, intelligence-driven, cross-border, joint, multi-national and multi-agency operations required to counter the cartel inroads that undermine democratic governments, threaten public security, and  inhibit development throughout Central America. The unexpected availability of  'off-the-shelf '  ISR assets  presents a windfall opportunity for the Canadian Forces. The base King Air aircraft has served the CF in one form or another for decades. The MC-12W Liberty 'platform'  is combat-proven yet easy to operate and  maintain. Should DND move quickly to secure these available ISR assets, the CF would be in a position to quickly build up a flexible and dynamic  SOF support capability  with potential applications across the spectrum of international and domestic requirements. Because the US government is motivated to make budget cuts, relatively new ex-USAF MC-12Ws will become available at a purchase price comparably lower than any available ISR alternatives, manned or unmanned. [1] Lt-Col James Dorschner (Ret.) served with the US Army's Military Intelligence Branch. He is now a  Special Correspondent  for  Jane's Defence Weekly and  Jane's Intelligence Review.