The DoS OV-10 airplanes were retired several years ago, and the operations in Plan Colombia have been halted due to a prohibition on glyphosate that was used to spray poppies and coca. The DoS OV-10's, operated by EAST and maintained by DynCorp, were D models converted to the OV-10G, for "government," which was revitalized a few years ago in a bid to bring them back as current generation COIN platforms. That effort didn't pan out.

The OV10's did feature air conditioning, such as it was, but it never worked well. The D/G models were okay for low land work on coca, but not for the higher altitude poppy operations, where Ayers Thrush T-65s and Air Tractor 802's were used. The OV-10 turned out to be a 300 gallon airplane at best (in terms of glyphosate load).

Counternarcotic operations were in full swing until October of last year as an ongoing part of Plan Colombia.

There was no need to hide the aircraft and pretend they weren't getting shot up. It's well known, and there were plenty of aircraft that flow back for repair; all the aircraft in Colombia feature patches and plugs from small arms fire and other weapons; all feature armor on the engines, self sealing fuel tanks, etc.

DoS airplanes are dark blue, not black.

Presently The Thrush, marketed as the Arch Angel, the 802U, and the OV-10 are in use in the middle east in Iraq, and in Yemen, with training operations in Jordan and UAE.