the united states air force bought eleven c-26a aircraft based on the sa227-ac, two of these being supplied to the venezuelan air force. the first three c-26bs were procured later in the 1980s, two for the us army and one for the usaf. these three had been built as sa227-bc models. later c-26bs were the military equivalent of the metro 23 and the usaf took delivery of 37 examples. some of these were transferred to the peruvian air force and the us army, while six were transferred to the us navy as c-26ds. the us army also took a second-hand merlin ivc and operated it as the solitary uc-26c.