Textron Aviation is expected to participate in the Air Force’s flight demonstration for the light attack aircraft this summer, a spokeswoman for the company said.
The requirement for a light attack aircraft sprung from political criticism of the Air Force’s push to retire the A-10, according to Richard Aboulafia, the vice president of analysis at the Teal Group. The service faced criticism for not being serious about close air support by retiring the A-10s, so it began talking about the need for a light attack plane, dubbed OA-X.
Sen. John McCain called for the procurement of about 300 “low-cost, light attack fighters” by 2020 in a white paper he released this year.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said this month that the program, which has been under consideration for about a year, will get a flight demonstration this summer at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., Defense News reported.
“We’re going to formally invite industry to participate,” Goldfein said. “Bring us what you have that fits the basic criteria of what we’re looking for. We call it ‘shovel ready.’ This is not something we’re looking to do a lot of research and development on. This is commercial, off-the-shelf that we can rapidly employ.”
Nikki Riemen said in a statement that Textron AirLand and Beachcraft Defense Company are “confident” the Scorpion jet and the AT-6 Wolverine are “exceptional platforms to fulfill the light-attack mission.” The company is expecting an invitation to this summer’s testing exercise, she said.
The Scorpion costs about $20 million per plane and was also discussed as a possible candidate to compete for the Air Force’s T-X trainer contract.
Aboulafia said the Super Tucano from Embraer could be another option in the competition.
Still, Aboulafia questioned whether the Air Force was serious in its procurement of a light attack aircraft, saying that using a platform like this would lead to heavy casualties if it was used in any theater other than one that had no sophisticated weaponry and no air force to go up against, such as Afghanistan. Outside of that, he said he sees little use for an asset like this.
“There are two possibilities here about OA-X,” he said. “One is that they’re not really serious and the other is they have pilots they’d like to get rid of in combat.”
