counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft comeback?

[ORAC]

It’s sole source as there was no competitive bidding process. Multiple sole source contracts is not a contradiction in terms.

[etudiant]

Is not the pilot the problem in the current COIN environment?
Any cheap and cheerful COIN aircraft will be quite susceptible to ground fire. The aircraft can be a writeoff no problem, but the pilot is politically costly. These new airframes do not help in that regard.
A controller aircraft operating beyond Manpads range managing some CAS drones in real time might be a preferable option.

[pr00ne]

ORAC,

So, multiple sole source contracts. As in contracts to MULTIple sources, so NOT sole source...

[ORAC]

You, surely, must understand that, where lawyers are involved, the meaning of words and sentences should never be taken at face value....

[pr00ne]

ORAC,

But so much of the law is indeed based on the use, and meaning, of words...

[ORAC]

You Tube

[ORAC]

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019...tack-aircraft/

US special ops command at odds with Air Force over need for light-attack aircraft

[ORAC]

Well that’s the USAF having finally killed off that concept, or at least sidelined for the next decade or two.....

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019...attack-planes/

US Air Force officially buying light-attack planes

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is officially putting down its money to buy two different models of light-attack aircraft.

The service will purchase two to three aircraft each of the Textron Aviation AT-6 and Sierra Nevada Corporation/Embraer Defense & Security A-29 aircraft. The handful of planes will be used to support “allies and partner capacity, capability and interoperability via training and experimentation,” according to an Air Force announcement........

[ORAC]

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2021...ial-operators/

These five firms could build a new armed overwatch plane for US Air Force special operators

WASHINGTON — U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command has tapped five companies to compete in its armed overwatch program for a new attack aircraft, awarding $19.2 million in contracts among the vendors.

The selected companies will now build and fly prototype aircraft in a series of demonstrations at Eglin Air Force Base, Floria. Those competitors include:
.

• Leidos’ Bronco II
• MAG Aerospace’s MC-208 Guardian
• Textron Aviation Defense’s AT-6E Wolverine
• L3Harris Technologies’ AT-802U Sky Warden
• Sierra Nevada Corp.’s MC-145B Wily Coyote

Demonstrations are set to occur through March 2022, according to a solicitation on SAM.gov. Afterward, AFSOC will determine whether any of the aircraft meet its requirements. If so, “the contractor may be requested to provide a production proposal for a follow-on production award,” the solicitation stateed.

In February, AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James Slife said he was hopeful procurement of a new platform could start in 2022.

“I think we can do [the program] at relatively low risk based on what we’ve seen from the vendors who have indicated that they intend to bring platforms to demonstrate for us in the coming months,” Slife said.

AFSOC plans to buy up to 75 armed overwatch platforms to replace the U-28 Draco, and the command is looking at nondevelopmental, multimission aircraft that can be reconfigured to collect intelligence and perform close-air support for ground forces.…..

[ORAC]

[The Helpful Stacker]

Originally Posted by ORAC

I mean, he is wrong on many counts, but when isn't he?

(The F.E.2d was the first aircraft used for CAS with the German CL class(?) the first purpose built CAS aircraft.)

[Biggus]

I seem to remember a running thread in the original 1960s Star Trek series where Chekov claimed that every major invention or advancement in mankind was Russian in origin.

[Lonewolf_50]

Originally Posted by The Helpful Stacker

I mean, he is wrong on many counts, but when isn't he?

(The F.E.2d was the first aircraft used for CAS with the German CL class(?) the first purpose built CAS aircraft.)

If I dig back into my military history notes, I think I'll find a robust development of CAS in the 1920s by the USMC during various banana wars.

[ORAC]

Interestingly Kartveli was actually Georgian, not Russian, and fled ahead of the Bolsheviks…..

So Putin is claiming historical everywhere, and everyone born in, anywhere invaded by the USSR again….

KARTVELI: Innovator in Aviation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kartveli

[dead_pan]

Dragging the thread back on topic, I read in Flight that this procurement had been put on hold pending a review of the requirement, something about it dating back to the time of the Afghan deployment when this was seen as a good idea (i.e. cheap and rugged platform operating in an uncontested environment).

[SLXOwft]

Originally Posted by dead_pan

Dragging the thread back on topic, I read in Flight that this procurement had been put on hold pending a review of the requirement, something about it dating back to the time of the Afghan deployment when this was seen as a good idea (i.e. cheap and rugged platform operating in an uncontested environment).

It was reported widely that the GAO recommended slowing procurement of the OA-1K Sky Warden as the fleet size hadn't been properly justified, Aviation Week said DoD officials planned to press on anyway although the eventual force size would be reanalysed.

U.S. Defense Department (DOD) officials have recommitted to the planned pace of L3Harris OA-1K Sky Warden procurement despite a new call from a government auditor to slow orders pending a fresh analysis,