WASHINGTON \u2014 Participants in the U.S. Air Force’s light-attack aircraft experiment are revving up training activities ahead of the beginning of the exercise next month at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The Scorpion, which will fly in a later portion of the experiment, is set to arrive at the base on July 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once training has wrapped up, the companies will hand the aircraft over to Air Force operators, who will put the planes through their paces in a series of flight tests. Over the four- to six-week experimentation period, Air Force crews will fly the planes in a number of missions and operational conditions \u2014 with ISR capability, operations with night vision gear, weapons employment, unimproved field operations, and aircraft handling all under evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are responsible for generating multiple sorties a day because we know they\u2019re going to use the aircraft aggressively, but as far as what they will do in each mission we don\u2019t know,” Gilbert said. “But we\u2019re very confident going in because we\u2019ve done all these missions for years, and we\u2019re doing them in combat now very successfully.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That confidence is shared by Textron’s Harris, who told Defense News: “We want to win. … We’ve got some great products out there that we can show them, so this has been a fantastic opportunity for us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Air Force has already purchased the A-29 for the Afghan and Lebanese militaries, which have flown the aircraft in combat in the Middle East \u2014 a fact SNC has been touting ahead of the demo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
A-29s purchased by the U.S. Air Force are first manufactured by Embraer in Jacksonville, Florida, and then customized by SNC afterward. The one flown in the light-attack demo will be no different, Gilbert said. It has already been modified with U.S. military-specific radios, sensors and data links. Gilbert declined to detail the full configuration for competitive reasons, but confirmed that the company had added Link 16 and a forward-looking infrared sensor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We\u2019re hoping for a very comprehensive evaluation because the deeper they look, I think the better we look,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We want to be sure they do not just [perform] a quick touch and go on an unimproved field, but we want them to operate from an unimproved field over and over again because we\u2019re made to do that. We want them to fly with asymmetric stores,” he continued. “We want them to slam the throttles around at all airspeeds\u00a0\u2014\u00a0high speed, low speed\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and see what kind of torque response they get. Because we know we\u2019re made for that. The airframe was designed with the extra length, with the large control surfaces to handle full throttle at any speed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The A-29 has competed against the AT-6 during the Air Force\u2019s light-attack support competition that ended with a contract to SNC and Embraer to provide the Super Tucano to the Afghan Air Force. However, Harris said that wouldn\u2019t necessarily give the A-29 the advantage during OA-X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Although Textron has never sold the armed AT-6 to the United States, it has produced more than 1,000 units of its forbearer, the T-6, including those flown by the Air Force for pilot training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It\u2019s an aircraft that the Air Force already knows, logistic bases already in place, you\u2019ve had a lot of pilots that have already been flying that aircraft in a very similar configuration, although the AT-6 is the newest and greatest and has additional capability,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Textron\u2019s Scorpion is a bit of an outlier as the only jet-powered aircraft participating in the exercise. At about $3,000 per flight hour, it\u2019s more expensive than its turboprop competitors like the A-29, which costs about $1,000 per flight hour to operate, according to SNC. However, it can fly faster and higher, provide standoff capability, and has additional space and power for more advanced sensors, Harris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harris said Textron didn\u2019t have to make extensive modifications to the AT-6 and Scorpion ahead of the experiment. In part, that was because the aircraft were designed with a U.S. audience in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But because neither the Scorpion and AT-6 are in use by the U.S. government, there is some gear the company wasn\u2019t able to incorporate for the demo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Since Scorpion in particular is all developed by private funds, it\u2019s not an aircraft of record, we don\u2019t have access to some of the equipment [specified by the Air Force]” like automatic self-protection or jamming products, he said. “That was taken into account in this notional configuration of the aircraft,” and Textron was allowed to provide data to the service on how long it would take to integrate those capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aftermath<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the experiment wraps up, it will be up to the Air Force to decide whether to pursue additional flight demonstrations, to start a program of record or to shelve the entire concept. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein has said the service may consider another round of tests in the Middle East to see whether the aircraft can hack it in an operational context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SNC has trumpeted the fact that the A-29 is already certified by the U.S. Air Force, which could speed up the fielding of the aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All of the aircraft will have to have an Air Force certification if this goes forward to a program, and certification is a long, complicated and expensive process,” Gilbert said. “It has some risk involved with it, and therefore that will be evaluated, I would assume, as part of any program if it gets to that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harris downplayed that as a major consideration, stating that Textron is prepared to move quickly to certify each aircraft and start production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“AT-6 will take less time [to finish being certified] because of where they are and the previous work that\u2019s been done,” he said. “It\u2019s only going to take six to nine months longer for Scorpion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked how quickly the aircraft could be certified and when the company could begin mass production of the AT-6 and Scorpion, Harris said the exact timelines would be dependent on the Air Force\u2019s preferred schedule. However, the T-6 production line is already active and producing aircraft, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It wouldn\u2019t be long. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an advantage that anybody has over us. I know that we can move quickly,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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