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Last Special Operations MC-12W Surveillance Planes Retired
['Joseph Trevithick', 'Deputy Editor', 'Jamie Hunter', 'Tyler Rogoway', 'Thomas Newdick', 'Howard Altman']
The War Zone
Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyThe last MC-12W Liberty turboprop surveillance aircraft under U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command’s (AFSOC) umbrella have been retired.
The 137th has also been working closely with the active-duty 492nd Special Operations Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to train the initial cadre of OA-1K pilots.
A modified Beechcraft King Air 350ER twin-engine turboprop, the MC-12W first entered Air Force service back in 2009.
Amid the scaling back of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early to mid-2010s, regular Air Force units stopped flying the MC-12W.
The Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 137th Air Refueling Wing transitioned to the 137th Special Operations Wing in 2015, and subsequently received 13 MC-12Ws.
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