Sky Warden

basher54321 · by **basher54321** » 08 Oct 2022, 14:42

SOCOM will invest about $170 million to build 75 Sky Warden aircraft based on the Air Tractor single-engine turboprop AT-802U. To start, Sky Warden will replace Air Force Special Operations Command’s aging fleet of U-28A Draco ISR aircraft and in turn augment the Air Force’s remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper drones. But AFSOC and other experts anticipate an expanding role for this simple platform, which requires a very small footprint to operate in the wild.

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Sky Warden is designed to “collapse the stack” of up to 20 ISR and armed defense aircraft that are sometimes called in to support missions like the failed 2017 operation in Tongo Tongo. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Kingsley, who led U.S. Africa Command prior to his 2016 retirement, said that stack can include ISR assets like the Draco, unmanned platforms like the Reaper, and manned fighters like the F-16 to validate and act on intelligence.

“We’re entering into a world now, where a majority of the fighters and other airplanes, to include remotely piloted airplanes, are going to be focused elsewhere,” Kingsley said. Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s increased assertiveness in the Pacific is changing U.S. defense priorities, and counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism missions may not always be able to garner the attention and commitment of forces needed.

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Sky Warden won out over five competing options using an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) competition intended to accelerate acquisition. The first batch of seven aircraft are due in fiscal 2023, and Air Force Special Operations Command anticipates 75 planes by the end of fiscal 2029. The 18th Special Operations Test and Evaluation Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will start putting the aircraft through its paces by the end of calendar 2023. Ahead of that, contractor and government verification testing is already underway at L3Harris facilities in Waco, Texas.

“We’re basically buying this complete production aircraft off the shelf, like a fully mature aircraft,” said Maj. Alex Flori, branch chief for Armed Overwatch requirements at headquarters, AFSOC.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/artic ... dangerous/

daswp · by **daswp** » 08 Oct 2022, 15:55

Guess we can finally declare the Super Tucano program dead.

charlielima223 · by **charlielima223** » 24 Nov 2022, 11:00

daswp · by **daswp** » 10 Dec 2022, 05:48

FTU with 28 airframes will be at Will Rogers Airport, OKANG will lose it's MC-12's and an Active Duty unit will move in to form an Reverse Associate unit.

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display ... w-at-802u/

charlielima223 · by **charlielima223** » 23 May 2023, 11:03

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/sky-w ... y-october/

madrat · by **madrat** » 23 May 2023, 12:16

Looks like a manpads magnet.

charlielima223 · by **charlielima223** » 26 May 2023, 11:23

madrat wrote:Looks like a manpads magnet.

Not really meant for going after those kinds of threats. Not saying that insurgents do not have that capability but it would appear that insurgents (or similar types) with those capabilities are too few and far inbetween or very very rare. Besides it not like this aircraft wont have counter measures like flare and chaff..

Gums · by **Gums** » 26 May 2023, 18:26

Salute!

Good point, CL

We did not see manpads in 'nam until 1972 when north invaded for real... even more regular main units than the infamous '68 Tet.

Those things are not cheap, so the insurgents must have a "sugar daddy" supplying them as we did in the 'stan, when U.S. helped the resistance there in the 80's.

The T-28D did just fine in Laos and south Vietnam, and was easy to maintain. Our Dragonfly planes did fine down south, right up to the end in 1975.

The bottomline is what is the scenario? What are the requirements for air support, be it recce, monitor and CAS. This new platform seems O.K. except serious CAS. And I question how well it could do LZ prep and then CSAR. Oh well, looks like "back to the future" except the new bad guys have better stuff than I saw in 1968 and 1972.

Gums sends...

wrightwing · by **wrightwing** » 26 May 2023, 20:19

Gums wrote:Salute!

Good point, CL

We did not see manpads in 'nam until 1972 when north invaded for real... even more regular main units than the infamous '68 Tet.

Those things are not cheap, so the insurgents must have a "sugar daddy" supplying them as we did in the 'stan, when U.S. helped the resistance there in the 80's.

The T-28D did just fine in Laos and south Vietnam, and was easy to maintain. Our Dragonfly planes did fine down south, right up to the end in 1975.

The bottomline is what is the scenario? What are the requirements for air support, be it recce, monitor and CAS. This new platform seems O.K. except serious CAS. And I question how well it could do LZ prep and then CSAR. Oh well, looks like "back to the future" except the new bad guys have better stuff than I saw in 1968 and 1972.

Gums sends...

These aircraft will support special operations forces in austere environments, where it's not practical/affordable to task F-15E/F-16/F-35/A-10. They'll provide organic and persistent support for SOF units.

charlielima223 · by **charlielima223** » 16 Dec 2023, 20:48

More than half the time I roll my eyes at the GAO...

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/12 ... -says-gao/

A few things I take disagreement with...

Air Force Special Operations Command considers Armed Overwatch useful to pressure violent extremist groups in areas such as Africa, where the airspace is essentially uncontested. The aircraft would take over missions now supported by the older and retiring U-28 Draco.

While it would most likely see many deployments in North Africa there are still many places in the world this aircraft and crews could still go...
South East Asia in places like the Philippines, Syria (ISIS is a mere shell of what they once where but they are still active), Central and South America.

The office said documents and discussions with SOCOM officials showed the command had already decided it needed between 70 and 75 Armed Overwatch planes in 2019, two years before it started the necessary force structure analyses.

Wrong... SOCOM piggy backed off of of the USAFs light attack aircraft program way earlier than this. When the USAF dropped their light attack aircraft program/study, SOCOM picked it up and made it their own. Yes things have dramatically changed since then (2019) yet somethings to consider are still very relevant. Things like how many are to be used for training, force rotation and even losses due to attrition.
****

GAO makes all these claims but as far as I can tell cannot come up with SOCOM's own study to back them up. It is important to note that SOCOM is a much smaller force than the big conventional military. SOCOM studies and assessments are often more user end oriented/focused than the big military.

“sandman” · by **“sandman”** » 17 Dec 2023, 08:08

I live in Tulsa, and see the 138th FW’s Vipers all the time. Plus lots of other interesting stuff, including V-22’s, and 4 USN P-8’s in a row a month back on approach among other interesting Military Aircraft.

I understand that the 75 will be ‘Blockd/Kitted out’ by L3HARRIS here in Tulsa at KTUL. I have a nephew who works at L3 and it’s an exciting project.

charlielima223 · by **charlielima223** » 28 Dec 2023, 22:43

These guys again