provide key communication capabilities
to emergency responders.
HOUSTON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations (AMO) deployed three P-3 Orion Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft to aid in relief efforts after the record-breaking storm poured more than 45 inches of rain on south Texas.
AMO crews flying the P-3 AEW, commonly known as an “AWACS” provided air traffic coordination for hundreds of airborne relief missions and communications relay for ground crews during search and rescue efforts. This unique capability provides critical communications to emergency responders in the area performing response missions.
“Our P-3 crews are extremely experienced lending critical capabilities to relief efforts,” said Director of Air Operations Hunter Davis. “One significant benefit these assets bring is providing communication capabilities to first responders operating in an environment where normal channels have become taxed.”
AMO’s advanced capabilities and skill sets in the air and maritime environments fall within our core competencies: interdiction, investigation, domain awareness, and contingency operations and national tasking missions. AMO performs a wide range of incident-based missions in response to state and federal emergencies, such as disaster relief, continuity of operations, humanitarian operations, search and rescue, tactical team insertions and logistics, and National Special Security Events.
For AMO storm imagery, please visit DVIDS.