The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that Support Systems Associates Inc. has received a contract for RC-26 avionics upgrade.

The contract, announced on 19 September by the Department of Defense, is worth more than  $31.1 million and provides for RC-26’s avionics upgrade to meet the Federal Aviation Administration mandates.

Work is expected to be completed in September 2020.

Support Systems Associates, Inc. is a privately-owned company specializing in engineering, logistics, and management services for both the U.S. government and the private sector.

The RC-26 is a modified version of Fairchild C-26 “Metroliner” twin turboprop aircraft with electronic surveillance equipment for drug interdiction missions.

The RC-26 aircraft is normally used for counter-drug operations in this hemisphere and for intelligence gathering, special operations support and reconnaissance in overseas conflict zones.

The RC-26 provides the platform and sensors to afford unobserved airborne command and control, radio relay, observation, photography, suspect tracking and vehicle follow, up to 100 zoom spotter scope, daylight mission video and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) thermal video can be provided at the completion of the flight. The system consists of an Electro-Optical FLIR camera for video recording, 2 still cameras (digital and wet film), a robust communication package for first responder, civil, and military communications, and a Line of Sight Streaming video transmitter.