Firm Designs Planes for War on Drugs

An airline company here Wednesday unveiled a proposal to deploy a sophisticated weapon in the battle against international drug smuggling--a fleet of “mini-AWAC” airplanes designed to buzz the border on special surveillance missions.

Officials of the Super-580 Aircraft Manufacturing Co., a spinoff of Air Resorts Airlines, announced that they are pursuing a federal contract to convert 10 twin-engine Convair 440 airliners and equip them with highly sophisticated radar for use by U.S. Customs authorities along the U.S. border with Mexico.

The fleet’s chief assignment would be to hover about 100 nautical miles off the coast near the international boundary and use its 360-degree radar capability to scan for air, sea and land activity, said J.F. (Skeets) Coleman, company vice president.

Information uncovered would then be transmitted back to a command base, and border agents would in turn intercept vehicles suspected of transporting drugs and smugglers, Coleman said.

“International drug smuggling is a massive, massive problem, and detection has historically been the weakest part of the U.S. Customs Service operation,” Coleman said. “With our planes, they could probably intercept and capture more targets of opportunity than any other system, largely because of our 360-degree radar.”

On Wednesday, company officials presented their proposal to the press and a bevy of local, state and federal officials at a Carlsbad forum. Their program was followed by demonstration flight of a Super-580 plane from Palomar Airport.

As part of their intensified campaign on drug interdiction, Customs officials already are operating a radar-equipped Navy surveillance plane, based in New Orleans. Five more are on their way, and Congress has approved 10 additional aircraft for the stepped-up enforcement program.

Super-580 Co. officials, arguing that their coverted airliners are cheaper and carry more effective radar equipment than some Navy planes, are hoping to supply the 10 future aircraft, Coleman said.

“We feel we can provide Customs with the best product available at a price they can afford,” Coleman said, adding that the Carlsbad company’s plane, when fully equipped, would cost roughly $10 million, compared to $50 million to $200 million for similarly outfitted military aircraft.

Further, Coleman noted, the plane now use by Customs has only forward-seeking radar, rather than a system that scans a 360-degree radius.

To serve Customs’ officials needs, the company proposes to modify the Convair 440 into Super-580 aircraft by making structural and electrical changes to accommodate surveillance equipment. The planes would then be outfitted with a multimode radar similar to that used on F-16 fighter planes and produced by the Westinghouse Defense Products Division.

Coleman said the aircraft, which have a radar scanning radius of 200 nautical miles, are designed to “loiter” offshore up to 14 hours and track airplanes and slow-moving sea and land vehicles.

Eventually, he said, the company hopes to market the radar-equipped planes internationally for border surveillance and other protective uses.