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Dagger Point: Assisting the Guatemalan Air Force in the development of an Airborne ISR platform

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Adam Grant
  • 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) Public Affairs
Capt. Timothy Wankowski is the 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) Deputy Chief of Intelligence Plans. He also serves as the AFSOUTH A2Air component liaison for intelligence plans for all of South and Central America.

Recently, he had the opportunity to go on seven-day temporary duty assignment to Guatemala where he used his intelligence background to assist in the United States Southern Command Countering Transnational Organized Crime mission.

Question: Why did you go TDY to Guatemala?

Wankowski: We were asked by United States Southern Command to assists the Guatemalan Air Force in the standing up of a new Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform.

Question: What was that platform and how will it be used?

Wankowski: The platform was a Beechcraft 200 and it will be used to conduct airborne ISR operations.

Question: Was your mission there an overall success?

Wankowski: It definitely was, we were able to go down and assists with the setup of the B-200 ISR platform and were also able to learn a lot from the Guatemalan Air Force, which made this TDY a success.

Question: Where there any challenging moments during your TDY?

Wankowski: There were a few challenges but it wasn't anything that we couldn't overcome, working with Partner Nations that want your help it makes a huge difference.

Question: Will you return on TDY to assist again?

Wankowski: We absolutely will, this engagement was a great success and we were able to lay down a great foundation down for any future visits there. This was the first of five scheduled TDY's down to Guatemala and has set a precedence of excellence for those in the near future to exceed.