Much ink has been spilled in the mainstream media and by Democrats after the Department of Homeland Security acquired new jets for top officials within the agency to use for travel, but a deeper dive shows the purchases are not only standard but also a matter of safety.
Liberals such as David Axlerod have characterized the aircraft as “luxury jets” and bewailed their hefty price tag.
However, while two used Gulfstream jets added to the Coast Guard air assets cost $172 million, the Coast Guard has been using Gulfstream aircraft for travel for its leadership since the early 2000s.
The plane the new long-range Gulfstream V jet replaced was also 20 years old. The New York Times noted that the acting commandant of the Coast Guard told Congress back in May that the “avionics are increasingly obsolete, the communications are increasingly unreliable.”
The need to modernize the air fleet was again emphasized by Admiral Kevin Lunday in a press release on Saturday.
“The timing of this investment underscores the Coast Guard’s vital need to modernize its command and control capabilities to meet today’s rapidly evolving operational demands. As maritime activity increases and national security challenges grow more complex, maintaining reliable air mobility is essential to ensuring continuity of operations and mission success,” Lunday said.
The two airplanes were costing nearly $10 million per year to maintain at the time.
Since January 2025, the plane that is being replaced has experienced 30 days of unplanned maintenance, with six missions requiring unplanned cancellation.
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The Coast Guard under former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas facilitated the acquisition of a new C-37B long-range command and control aircraft from Gulfstream in June 2022.
“The aircraft’s overall mission is to operate as a command and control platform anywhere in the world for the secretary of Homeland Security, the commandant of the Coast Guard, and other top DHS leadership. The LRCCA is equipped with a broad range of commercial and military communications systems, providing secure voice and data capabilities as well as the capability to perform routine administrative duties in-flight worldwide,” the press release said about the purchase at the time.
Going back to fiscal year 2021, a Coast Guard report found maintenance for the service’s long-range aircrafts was costing millions of dollars per year due to the mileage and age. The two airplanes were costing nearly $10 million per year to maintain at the time.
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Politics, Planes, Gulfstream
