At-802U Sky Warden Planes - "We have to do a lot of training for this," AFSOC chief Lt. Gen. Jim Slife told reporters in September. "We haven't used a tail-towed aircraft of this scale in a long time. Those qualities, that rugged versatility, probably won Sky Warden over four other aircraft SOCOM considered for the contract last summer. The contract is initially worth $170 million, or about two stealth F-35A
, with a cap of $3 billion for the entire fleet. L3 Harris said in a statement that production of an initial batch of six Sky Wardens will begin in 2023. It is worth noting that SNC may sell the MC-145B to other customers, including foreign militaries, who may offer it.
At-802U Sky Warden Planes
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might be interested in those capabilities. Back in 2013, AFSOC actually explored the possibility of converting C-145As into small side-firing aircraft, a sort of miniaturized version of the AC-130 concept, with the goal of potentially transferring this capability to America's allies and partners. .Tuesday
At-U Engine And Performance
In an interview with Defense News, Luke Savoy, president of the ISR sector at L3 Harris Technologies, said the company is looking to provide special operators with a low-cost insurance policy. used model-based engineering and modular open systems to design
Field "SOCOM chose a platform that I think we will use well," he said. "But I pay a lot of attention to what that training pipeline looks like to make sure we're not putting people over their heads in airplanes they're not used to flying."
If the Bronco II is like a freak fighter jet, the Mag Aerospace MC-208 Guardian feels like a private jet outfitted by a bored executive for the most dangerous game. Camera pods can fit under its fuselage and special hard wing points have rocket or missile mounts.
For missions that require transport and surveillance, the Guardian can carry nine people in addition to a two-person flight crew. The aircraft is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67F turboprop engine driving Hartzell aluminum propellers.
Survivability Of At-U
The engine develops a maximum continuous power of 1600 hp at 1700 rpm. The aircraft's fuel capacity is 1,438 L, which can be increased by adding auxiliary fuel tanks. On August 15, Special Operations Command (SOCOM) announced that the next aircraft would be a single-engine propeller plane.
Source: 802u.com
SOCOM will purchase 75 AT-802U Sky Warden aircraft manufactured by L3Harris Technologies and Air Tractor. These aircraft will assist special operations forces such as Delta Force or Navy SEALs in fighting irregular warfare. Stephen Losey is an air warfare reporter for Defense News.
He previously covered command and personnel issues for Air Force Times and Special Operations and Air Warfare for the Pentagon, military.com. He traveled to the Middle East to discuss US Air Force operations. So far, SNC is the only one of these companies that doesn't seem to have released any images or concepts of their designs.
Artwork the company has now submitted to The War Zone, seen at the top of this story, shows a clearly modified version of the basic M28/C-145A twin-engine turboprop aircraft with an extended nose. In particular, the new front end is similar in many ways to the existing patrol and search and rescue (SAR) variants of the M28.
Air Tractor At-U Surveillance And Light Attack Aircraft
In addition to the rear ramp, SNC says the MC-145B can be easily reconfigured for unarmed surveillance missions such as light transport, aerial resupply and casualty evacuation duties if desired. It is unclear what Wily Coyote's exact performance specifications or performance capabilities might be when performing these tasks in any of these configurations.
"This means that during taxi, takeoff and landing operations, pilots need to be more aware of the aircraft's layout and crosswinds," Hayes said. "Tailwheel aircraft are more prone to rotational forces about their center of gravity because of [their] position relative to [the main gear]. The aircraft can be configured to launch a variety of precision-guided munitions as well as small drones through eight openings in the main cockpit floor. This
The setup allows the launcher to be reloaded on the fly. SNC's marketing materials specifically mention the Dinetics GBU-69/B Small Glide Munition (SGM) hover bomb and Raytheon's AGM-176 Griffin missile as possible payloads, as well as the Coyote unmanned aerial vehicle, another Raytheon product.
The new aircraft has a sensor turret under the nose and another under the fuselage. At least from this industry, they both appear to be L3Harris WESCAM MX-15s, which can be configured to use electro-optical and infrared cameras, as well as laser designators.
Source: media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com
The At- Wolverine
The MX-15 already has the capability to mount M28s in the nose configured for maritime patrol and SAR duties. While it can, Savoy said, the L3 Harris is capable of carrying about AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. Sky Warden has the infrastructure to operate eight conventional launcher weapons like the AGM-176A Griffin, he said.
The other three entries are two-seater single-engine turboprop light attack aircraft. Leidos leads the team behind the Bronco II, an unusual pusher-ratio design originally developed in South Africa, which you can read more about here. L3Harris has partnered with Air Tractor to deliver the AT-802U Sky Warden, the latest iteration of the latter company's weaponized AT-802 crop duster.
Textron has introduced the AT-6E Wolverine, the latest variant of the light attack T-6 Texan II trainer. The second prototype was built for L3 Harris' own flight testing and qualification of the aircraft's autopilot. L3Harris built a third Sky Warden prototype to test and certify the aircraft's reinforced, heavy-duty wing to ensure it could carry up to 6,000 pounds of external munitions.
The Armed Overwatch program is an effort by the Air Force's Special Operations Command to develop a series of flexible, fixed-wing aircraft that can be deployed in austere areas and require only a small logistical footprint to operate.
Weapon Systems
AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Jim Slife told reporters in February that he hoped armed overwatch aircraft could maintain pressure on violent extremist organizations in parts of Africa where extremist groups operate, but the airspace is largely uncontested.
With countries like Germany and the United States offloading old anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine for use in the war against Russia, some of these weapons are likely to end up on the black market. While older anti-aircraft missiles may struggle against modern jets or be an overkill for modern drones, they are great for attacking aircraft like the Sky Warden.
Because SOCOM is betting big on how to fight irregular wars from the air, it's also gambling that the enemies it finds will lack anti-aircraft weapons, even as war makes those weapons more readily available. "AFSOC expects the crew to have a smooth transition to this expanded mission," Hayes said.
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"The challenge will be learning the ins and outs of flying tailwheel aircraft, which our teams are ready to do." Kelsey D. Atherton is a military technology journalist who has contributed to Popular Science since 2013.
The At-U Sky Warden
He talks about unmanned robots and other drones, communications systems, nuclear initiatives, and technologies used to plan, execute, and mitigate war. Stephen Losey is an air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered command and personnel issues for Air Force Times and Special Operations and Air Warfare for the Pentagon, military.com.
He traveled to the Middle East to discuss US Air Force operations. SOCOM expects to evaluate five prototypes by 2022. march After that, if the military finds a design it likes, it must convince Congress of its need for the aircraft to secure funding for the project.
If approved, SOCOM expects to acquire 75 of the winning aircraft within 5 to 7 years of the award. Kelsey D. Atherton Released on May 20, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. EDT, Slife said AFSOC expects Armed Overwatch to bring in new intelligence-gathering planes, allowing it to phase out its expensive U-28A Draco aircraft.
The Draco is a small aircraft adapted from the Pilatus PC-12 that can land on small, rough airfields and fly in remote areas. The AT-802U Sky Warden, produced by L3Harris Technologies and aircraft manufacturer Air Tractor, is SOCOM's choice for a rugged aircraft that can strike terrorist groups in austere locations such as reconnaissance, surveillance and reconnaissance, close air support and logistics.
The Bronco Ii
No other intelligence, surveillance or reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities are specifically mentioned in SNC's marketing materials for African aircraft. It is possible that the MC-145B could be large enough to carry versions of SOCOM's Joint Threat Warning System (JTWS) family of signals intelligence systems, some of which could fit inside the slightly larger C-146A Wolfhound light transports.
SNC says Wily Coyote has a robust set of communication and data sharing capabilities and is designed to easily accommodate new and improved capabilities over time. That led L3 Harris to refine what sensors and software the plane would need and how it would integrate the systems, he said.
Source: i.insider.com
To make Sky Warden as user-friendly as possible, the company talked to people who have done this mission in the past. Special operations forces grew out of missions reserved for commandos in twentieth-century warfare—small forces behind enemy lines who had to operate with what they could carry on their backs.
In 21st century warfare, this means cutting off other support, meaning small numbers can be a form of stealth rather than vulnerability. In other cases, these missions are conducted alongside the national militaries of other countries, as commandos regularly add specialized skills and weapons to help participants track down the leadership of insurgents or violent non-state groups.
For SOCOM purposes, an aircraft capable of supporting special operations forces does not need to survive in skies filled with enemy fighters or when the enemy brings in fighter jets dedicated to combat. Instead, the key is for the aircraft to be able to fly smoothly, shoot what it needs to, and land on rough runways and clear fields as needed, not at dedicated air bases.
Rather than starting with a list of aircraft requirements that traditional requirements-based engineering might dictate, Savoie says L3Harris designers used model-based systems engineering to determine why a Sky Warden pilot might need certain capabilities and the best way to meet them.
Those who need it. The optional Compact Multichannel Data Link (CMDL) system is compatible with the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER). It provides commanders with a real-time view of the battlefield and transmits live video to other aircraft, air operations centers or joint terminal attack controllers in the field.
Air tractor planes have previously carried weapons such as .50-caliber cannons and 7.62 miniguns, Savoie said. The Sky Warden can be equipped with six weapons stations, the primary weapon of which is a laser-guided 2.75-inch Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS.
The Air Training and Education Team, AFSOC and L3Harris are developing a training program to help Airmen master the ins and outs of tailwheel flying. That program will determine the length of each armed observation training course, Hayes said.
The Air Force hopes to complete airframe testing by 2024. summer, and their instructors will be trained to teach students by 2025. Autumn AFSOC is considering training commercial tailwheel aircraft test pilots and instructors before converting to the OA-1K.
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