WASHINGTON – Air and Marine Operations (AMO) National Air Security Operations Center, P-3 Long Range Tracker and Airborne Early Warning crews and partners disrupted the flow of 113,779 pounds of cocaine in drug source and transit zones through the end of the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2021. It is estimated that United States Southern Command counter-narcotics operations involving Air and Marine Operations, federal and international partners denied transnational criminal organizations more than two billion dollars between October 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.
National Air Security Operations Center P-3 capabilities are essential to United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Operations, contributing to an increased law enforcement presence in narcotics transit zones. This partnership bolsters support to the U.S. and international law enforcement by sharing information and intelligence to help expand target packages.
Since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2021, AMO P-3 crews have flown 5,485 flight hours. Eighty-five percent of those flight hours have been piloted in collaboration with SOUTHCOM partners. For every hour flown by a P-3 aircrew during this timeframe, federal and international authorities stopped the flow of 24.3 pounds of cocaine.
Range Tracker aircraft to conduct long-range
aerial patrols and surveillance missions along
the U.S. borders and in drug transit zones in
Central and South America.
AMO has two P-3 National Air Security Operations Centers, located in Jacksonville, FL and Corpus Christi, TX. These P-3 aircraft operate throughout North, Central and South America in defense of the borders of the United States and to prevent attempts to smuggle persons or contraband.
AMO safeguards our nation by anticipating and confronting security threats through our aviation and maritime law enforcement expertise, innovative capabilities, and partnerships at the border and beyond. With approximately 1,800 federal agents and mission support personnel, 240 aircraft and 300 marine vessels operating throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands, AMO serves as the nation’s experts in airborne and maritime law enforcement.
In Fiscal Year 2020, AMO enforcement actions resulted in the seizure or disruption of 194,220 pounds of cocaine, 278,492 pounds of marijuana, 15,985 pounds of methamphetamine, 952 weapons and $51.5 million as well as 1,066 arrests and 47,872 apprehensions of undocumented migrants.