US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) named its upcoming OA-1K close air support aircraft Skyraider II, spiritually succeeding A-1 Skyraider from the Cold War.
The new aircraft based on the civilian Air Tractor AT-802 propeller-driven aircraft originally used for crop dusting will provide close air support and ISR in remote-area operations.
One might wonder why the AFSOC is going for an armed crop duster when it has high-end platforms like AC-130 and MQ-9 to perform such missions.
AC-130 gunship based on C-130 cargo aircraft is remarkable in its high firepower thanks to the onboard 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II chain gun, 105 mm howitzer, EO/IR systems, and wing-mounted munitions. However, the aircraft is too large to be operated from remote areas and is a rarer sight than others in the AFSOC inventory.
MQ-9 comes into the stage with long endurance beyond an entire day but suffers from long runway field requirements. Additionally, the acquisition costs for MQ-9 in its latest configuration are spicy with the recent integration of onboard systems.
Compared to these attack/ISR platforms in the AFSOC inventory, the OA-1K Skyraider II fills the gap of a cheaper aircraft that can easily take off from short and unprepared runways due to its background as a crop dusting aircraft. On the other hand, the ten hardpoints ensure a dependable firepower capacity, which can be fitted with off-board EO/IR pods, unguided/guided rockets, AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles, and gun pods.
The AFSOC Commander Lt. Gen. Michael Conley’s statement regarding the aircraft, “We are going to have the ability to shape that into something that the rest of the nation might not even know they need right now.”, is a nod to this fact.
An aircraft that does not demand much in terms of the base it will operate from can reach to support COIN and SAR missions of the AFSOC potentially quicker. The AFSOC has ordered 75 OA-1K Skyraider II for a total cost of $3 billion, with the first unit to be delivered this year.
Archangel for UAE Air Force
The US integrator company IOMAX marketed this aircraft as Archangel with Roketsan’s products onboard. IOMAX delivered 24 aircraft to UAE Air Force in 2015 with Roketsan 2.75 inch Cirit laser-guided missile and GBU-12/58 precision-guided bombs AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
