A Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine turboprop in April, 2020.
WASHINGTON: Special Operations Command will spend five weeks this summer flying five different aircraft competing for its Armed Overwatch program, a high-profile attempt to build a small attack plane fleet for operations in austere environments.
The planes, all based on commercial designs that can be purchased relatively quickly, will focus on surveillance, bombing and close air support missions targeting groups in places where American special operations forces will continue to operate on small footprint missions.
James Smith, SOCOM’s acquisition chief, told reporters this afternoon the tests will be conducted at Eglin Air Force Base and consist of five different flights that will test everything from live fire exercises, to takeoffs and landings on unpaved runways, to their ability to send and receive full-motion video.
On May 17, SOCOM announced that it had awarded $19.2 million worth of contracts to five companies to produce prototype aircraft for the program. The finalists are Leidos Inc., MAG Aerospace, Textron Aviation Defense, L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, and Sierra Nevada Corp.
The tests will run from June 14 through July 23.
SOCOM is looking for the companies to “demonstrate their hardware in their platforms in a realistic environment,” Smith said.
In addition to austere takeoff and landing, the command is looking at range and endurance, line of sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications, cockpit configuration, full motion video and autopilot capability. “Really, those will be evaluated over three flights,” Smith added. Of the five flights, the final mission will have an Air Force Special Operations Command pilot in the back seat to evaluate the plane while it’s in action.
Smith said he expects a decision to be made in the “near term,” but didn’t elaborate. “From an industry standpoint, we’ve been very, very consistent with the requirements in terms of takeoff and landing, range, weapons, communications etc. But [now] also let’s see if we actually have what you said you had, and demonstrate it.”
With tight budgets expected across the Pentagon in coming years, and special operations forces expected to play a key role in places like western and northern Africa, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria and simmering hotspots in Asia, SOCOM has worried that it won’t always be able to count on the Air Force and Navy to supply jets to keep watch overhead.
The Air Force Special Operations Command has $101 million in funding to buy the first five of a planned 75 planes in the 2021 budget.
