Second Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft contract for US C&BP
On 22 September 2020, the US Customs & Border Protection (US C&BP) awarded Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) a second USD 47 milion contract to expand the Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) fleet, bringing the total MEA aircraft orders to four in 2020.
This is unprecedented for a single year *). SNC has been the prime systems engineer and integrator for the MEA fleet since 2009.
The MEA aircraft is a fully certified, highly-missionised version of the King Air 350, equipped with a sophisticated array of active and passive sensors, technical collection equipment and satellite communications capabilities.
The aircraft have a range of up to six hours flying time and provides integrated multi-role special mission services to US C&BP and is capable of carrying out a wide range of missions. The King Air is operated by a crew of four, including two sensor operators who employ the mission equipment and coordinate the information flow to the ground.
This twin turboprop aircraft platform leverages more than 15 years of SNC’s King Air modification and integration heritage and 800,000+ hours of operational experience on special mission platforms for a wide array of government and military customers.
To date, SNC has provided a fleet of twenty other King Air 350 aircraft used to safeguard the nation as part of US C&BP’s coordinated aviation and maritime law enforcement efforts. All four additional MEA aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2022. SNC will continue to perform work covered by this contract from its facilities in Hagerstown (MD).
Looking up the FAA registry reveals that the owner of the aircraft, the US Department of Homeland Security, is named in various ways, all with small differences. We can identify the following twenty airframes:
c/n FL-679 N187V
c/n FL-770 N192F
c/n FM-36 N561A
c/n FM-37 N610A
c/n FM-38 N716A
c/n FM-41 N814A
c/n FM-43 N917A
c/n FM-52 N161V
c/n FM-53 N108F
c/n FM-56 N631L
c/n FM-59 N151Q
c/n FM-62 N218Q
c/n FM-64 N419K
c/n FM-65 N517K
c/n FM-66 N115H
c/n FM-67 N816H
c/n FM-72 N162G
c/n FM-73 N811H
c/n FM-74 N541G
c/n FM-78 N78KR
*) 23 May 2020, US Customs and Border Protection will get two additional Beechcraft King Air 350CERs
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