Sikorsky did deliver the S-61Ts to the State in 2015, at which point the bulk of them went straight into storage at Patrick Air Force Base. As of July 2017, only five were flying operationally, two in Cyprus and three in Iraq. The recently released audit said State still had 13 S-61Ts in storage, but a response from INL to a draft version of the report said that they had sold all of the S-61s, including the Ns, to unspecified buyers as of December 2017 by way of the General Services Administration (GSA). We don’t know whether or not the Department still owns a number of non-flyable H-3 Sea Kings, another S-61 variant, which it had acquired from the U.S. military to serve as parts donors for the new S-61Ts.

The Air Wing has also secured more than 20 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters of different variants from the U.S. Army, via that service’s Black Hawk Exchange and Sales Team, or BEST. At least some of those helicopters are supporting counter-narcotics operations in Colombia. This makes sense since that country has its own fleet of Black Hawk types and INL/A’s aircraft could make use of any existing operational facilities set up for those helicopters. State still has four MD-530 Little Bird light helicopters, as well, though these appear to all be in storage. The Air Wing had employed these small choppers in the past to conduct visual reconnaissance and escort missions, as well as ferry small numbers of personnel between sites.

Beyond its helicopter fleets, INL/A also has more than 20 fixed-wing turboprop aircraft of various sizes, primarily for shuttling around senior officials either within a country or between sites in a broader region. These include twin-engine Dash-8s and Beechcraft 1900s and single-engine Cessna C208B Grand Caravans, all of which are popular and easy to maintain types. Pictures show that at least some of the Dash-8s have missile warning receivers and flare launchers installed. In the past, the Air Wing has acquired fixed-wing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, but there is no indication that any of the aircraft in its inventory at present are equipped with turreted electro-optical cameras or other sensors. A single Fairchild-Dornier 328 Jet configured for ISR and command and control missions that INL/A had in 2014 has since gone to the Mexican Federal Police.