The Scorpion has a cruising speed of up to 517 mph, a ferry range of 2,400 nautical miles, an internal payload of up to 3,000 pounds and wing-mounted precision munitions.
Bet it has a fuselage tank too, built in under two years, I wonder if the likes of the wings are off the shelf, something like a core wing off a citation etc
Think they have something in their blurb,
“The aircraft’s design is well matched to the Air National Guard’s missions such as irregular warfare, border patrol, maritime surveillance, emergency relief, counter narcotics and air defense operations,” the joint venture’s website says.
According to a report from Aviation Week, F-16s, which are currently used in many of those roles, cost about $25,000 an hour to operate. Textron AirLand’s goal is for the Scorpion to perform those missions at almost a tenth of that cost, Aviation Week said.
“We began development of the Scorpion in January 2012 with the objective to design, build and fly the world’s most affordable tactical jet aircraft capable of performing lower-threat battlefield and homeland security missions,” Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly said in a statement.
And if that ground running film is anything to go by, the accessibility is fantastic. See
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