Operation Coronet Nighthawk
Operation Coronet Nighthawk was a U.S. anti-narcotic smuggling air patrol operation. Formerly carried out from Howard Air Force Base in Panama, the operation was moved to Hato, at Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles from April 1999. The Air National Guard fighter wings of the USAF's First Air Force rotate through Curaçao periodically - it appears, during summer annual training periods - to intercept, shadow, and identify suspected narco-trafficking aircraft. The fighter squadrons were under the command of Joint Interagency Task Force East (JIATF-E) for the mission. One estimate replicated at Globalsecurity.org credited the intercepters with over 33,000 metric tonnes of cocaine being disrupted or seized since 1994.
Operation Coronet Nighthawk is no longer in operation.
During the Cold War, there were also other previous operations by Air National Guard units in the U.S. Southern Command area of operations bearing the 'Coronet' prefix.
Sources and External Links
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/coronet_nighthawk.htm
- http://www.codeonemagazine.com/archives/2000/articles/apr_00/nighthawk_1.html
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