{"id":21621,"date":"2021-02-16T23:44:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T23:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/16\/special-ops-still-bullish-on-new-armed-overwatch-plane\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:57:21","slug":"special-ops-still-bullish-on-new-armed-overwatch-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/02\/16\/special-ops-still-bullish-on-new-armed-overwatch-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"Special ops still bullish on new armed overwatch plane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Air Force Special Operations Command plans to conduct flying demonstrations of multiple armed overwatch aircraft this year, paving the way <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/12\/08\/counterterrorism-setback-armed-overwatch-is-stalled-again\/\" target=_blank>for procurement to start <\/a>in fiscal 2022, its top general said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at a discussion hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James Slife said that the forthcoming demonstration could help furnish lawmakers \u2014 who opposed funding the procurement of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/federal-budget\/2020\/02\/10\/sorry-sierra-nevada-corp-and-textron-the-us-air-force-isnt-buying-light-attack-planes\/\" target=_blank>five armed overwatch planes<\/a> in FY21 \u2014 with the information they need to satisfy questions and concerns about the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think we can do [the program] at relatively low risk based on what we\u2019ve seen from the vendors who have indicated that they intend to bring platforms to demonstrate for us in the coming months,\u201d Slife said. \u201cIf it is non-developmental and it meets the requirements that SOCOM has laid out to industry, then we\u2019re interested in looking at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Special Operations Command requested $101 million in fiscal year 2021 to buy the first five <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/08\/23\/armed-overwatch-a-critical-special-operations-forces-requirement\/\" target=_blank>armed overwatch aircraft<\/a> and announced plans to purchase up to 75 planes total to replace the U-28 Draco. However, Congress made major cuts to the program and included language in the defense policy bill that would prohibit SOCOM from being able to buy armed overwatch aircraft in FY21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the funding appropriated by Congress in FY21, SOCOM will be able to conduct a demonstration of off-the-shelf aircraft, said Slife, who added that he was not concerned that Congress would repeatedly seek to keep the program from moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think Congress is appropriately and prudently exercising their oversight role. I would view this as a lower risk enterprise than perhaps some charged with oversight do, but the fact that we see it differently doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUltimately I believe SOCOM will be able to demonstrate to the Congress that this is a viable program and it\u2019s required for the future operating environment. I remain cautiously optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AFSOC envisions its armed overwatch platform as a reconfigurable, multi-mission aircraft that will conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and perform close air support of ground forces. The aircraft, which will be flown only in uncontested environments such as in Africa, will be able to operate in austere conditions using a very minimal logistics footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe whole reason we\u2019re doing this is because the national defense strategy talks about the need to do cost effective [counter-violent extremist organization] operations, cost effective irregular warfare,\u201d Slife said. \u201cSo the operating environment where we currently operate U-28s is about the same operating environment where we would envision operating armed overwatch platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/light-attack-providers-get-second-shot-with-socom\/\" target=_blank>Air Force Magazine<\/a>, at least four vendors have indicated an interest in the program: Sierra Nevada Corp., Textron Aviation, Air Tractor, and Leidos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slife stressed that the armed overwatch program is not a \u201crehash\u201d of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/federal-budget\/2019\/03\/13\/air-force-to-buy-handful-of-light-attack-planes-but-will-a-bigger-program-follow\/\" target=_blank>the Air Force\u2019s light attack experimentation campaign<\/a>. During that effort, the Air Force tested multiple off-the-shelf attack planes \u2014 including some candidates that are vying to be included in the armed overwatch program, such as Textron and Sierra Nevada \u2014 in the hopes of discerning whether a buy of about 300 planes could help the service conduct counterterrorism operations more cost effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force ultimately abandoned the effort in its FY21 budget due to other spending priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slife said it is too early to say whether SOCOM will consider buying multiple platforms, or whether it would be amenable to leasing aircraft or other alternatives to a traditional acquisition program. However, he stressed that the special operations community would not be transitioning to a fighter type aircraft with a jet engine and an ejection seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe armed overwatch platform will be less expensive to operate [than the U-28],\u201d Slife said. \u201cIt will be more versatile than the U-28, and frankly, we\u2019ll have greater capacity to operate in those small disaggregated kinds of teams.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A demo of off-the-shelf aircraft is set to occur this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[140,7,160,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-21621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-force-priorities","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZSKN7LHGJVC5ZN7VSJ2NUKHBPM","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2021\/02\/16\/special-ops-still-bullish-on-new-armed-overwatch-plane\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Special ops still bullish on new armed overwatch plane - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A demo of off-the-shelf aircraft is set to occur this year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special ops still bullish on new armed overwatch plane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A demo of off-the-shelf aircraft is set to occur this year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/02\/16\/special-ops-still-bullish-on-new-armed-overwatch-plane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" 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