ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The Air Force’s light attack aircraft flight demonstration is officially on the books, with an experiment scheduled this summer at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.
In a speech at the Air Force Association\u2019s air warfare symposium, Acting Air Force Secretary Lisa Disbrow said the experiment will prove whether it makes sense to add money to the budget for a low-price aircraft that could be procured almost immediately to do low-end combat in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We want to see if there\u2019s a business case there,” she said. “This concept could free up higher-cost, higher-performance platforms from doing low-threat missions, which would allow us time to prepare for more complex threats with those assets. It could also help us absorb new pilots and be useful as we work with allies and partners.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outgoing Air Combat Command chief Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle has questioned whether embarking on an OA-X program would be a wise use of funding, given what he sees as a threat environment that is rapidly becoming less permissive. During a Feb. 25 event, he told reporters that \u2014 although there could be come significant operations and maintenance savings by offloading simpler missions to low-end aircraft \u2014 those jets may not be effective in the Middle East for very long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In an increasing threat environment, even against a violent extremist organization, would it be a viable platform, and would it be the one that could be used at a level that the combatant commanders needed it?” he said. “My concern is, depending on how the OA-X looks like, would it be viable in the environments that we\u2019re going to try to operate it in?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlisle\u2019s replacement, however, might be more bullish on OA-X. Last September, incoming ACC commander Lt. Gen. Holmes \u2014 the service\u2019s deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements \u2014 discussed the potential flight demonstration and OA-X program with Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, he declined to comment on whether he would push for a light attack aircraft capability as head of ACC. However, he was supportive of conducting experiments to learn more about whether a light attack aircraft could help save money and improve readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The question is, how do you afford it? The counter question is, how can you not afford it? Or, can you afford not to because of the operating cost difference?” he asked then. “Right now, the thing that’s growing faster than inflation and eating up space in our budget is operating costs.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
At this point, it\u2019s unclear whether the Air Force will limit its options to inexpensive turboprop airplanes or if a more advanced light fighter could be of interest. Much excitement has surrounded the Textron AirLand Scorpion since it was released on the market. The aircraft hasn\u2019t secured its first order yet, but its low operating and acquisition costs \u2014 less than $20 million per unit and $3,000 per flight hour \u2014 could make it a good fit for OA-X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other low-cost options could include the Beechcraft AT-6 or Embraer\u2019s A-29 Super Tucano. If the service considers higher-performing entries, some T-X entrants \u2014 particularly Lockheed Martin\u2019s FA-50 or Leonardo\u2019s M-346 \u2014 could be other alternatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Air Force\u2019s light attack aircraft flight demonstration is officially on the books, with an experiment scheduled this summer at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82027,"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":76,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"}}},"categories":[7,76,29],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-38443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-air-warfare-symposium","category-digital-show-dailies"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"M2L2DA2HCJGBBLW7LW6BUKHJVY","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/air-warfare-symposium\/2017\/03\/03\/air-force-leaders-confirm-light-attack-aircraft-demo-to-take-off-this-summer\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n