Over the last 12 years, ATAC has performed a wide range of flight training operations for the US Navy, US Air Force and Air National Guard, including participation in US Navy fleet training, acting as adversary fighters for the “TOPGUN” program, Red Flag exercises and F-22 Raptor training; participating in JTAC/ FAC-A/ CAS ground controller training; and even serving American research & development programs. Under their agreement with US Navy, their services have also been used to train militaries in the UK, Canada, Japan, the Philippines, and others.

Unlike most other contractors, who operate Learjets and similar business aircraft, ATAC operates fighters and attack jets…

Fleet and Stores

The firm no longer operates Saab’s visionary J-35 Draken, but staged buys and/or leases have let them accumulate a very versatile fleet of supersonic Israeli Kfir C2s, along with Hawker Hunter 80 and McDonnell-Douglas A-4N Skyhawk fighters.

Israel Aircraft Industry’s Kfir fighters were originally developed by adding GE J79 turbojets from the F-4 Phantom to modified Mirage V airframes, whose plans Israel stole after the French refused to deliver the fighters Israel had paid for. The Kfirs were introduced at a time when F-16s and F-15s had begun to dominate IAF’s air superiority missions, and only recorded 1 kill during a long service career, which saw them used extensively in ground attack roles. The Kfir remains a fast and nimble aircraft, however, and early-model Kfir C1s served as “aggressor” aircraft for the US Navy, under the designation “F-21”.

ATAC’s Kfir C2s are distinguishable from the F-21s by their dogtoothed outer wing panels, small undernose strakes, and larger canard foreplanes. These improve the aircraft’s maneuverability, and shorten required takeoff distances. Kfirs still serve as front-line fighters in Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka.

The A-4 Skyhawk, aka. “Scooter,” has a long career as a carrier-based attack aircraft with the US Navy, and Sen. John McCain was flying one when he was shot down over North Vietnam. It also has a storied land-based career with the Israeli Air Force, who used this simple, pilot-friendly, compact little aircraft from late 1967 onward as a versatile attack jet with surprising air-air teeth. Some of those planes still serve in Israel, and other A-4s continue in front-line roles, most notably as carrier aircraft on Brazil’s NAe Sao Paolo.

ATAC’s A-4Ns are ex-Israeli aircraft, who continue to play a familiar role for the US Navy. American Skyhawks had a second life with the US Navy and Marines as training and “aggressor” aircraft, a role they played in the famous film “Top Gun.”

The Hawker Hunter isn’t the most famous aircraft of its era. Nor is it the most produced, despite a production run of about 2,000 planes. Its contemporaries the F-86 Sabre and MiG-15/17 hold those titles. A strong case could be made, however, that the Hunter is the best aircraft of that era. Hunters are rugged and maneuverable, with excellent handling at all flight speeds and surprising effectiveness in the ground attack role. Designed in the late 1940s, these aircraft remained in front-line service into the 1990s.

ATAC aircraft are certified to carry a wide range of stores. TACTS/ACMI (P4/5) pods or LATR GPS tracking pods, provide air combat tracking. For electronic warfare training, AST-6 and AST-9 threat simulators can be combined with multiple AN/ALQ-167 and/or AN/ALQ-188 Jamming pods, and IAI Elta’s EL-L 8212/8222 Self-Protection Jammer pods.

Contracts and Key Events

Unless the entry says otherwise, contracts are managed by the USA’s Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD, and issued to small business qualifier Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. LLC (ATAC) in Newport News, VA.

Note that Pentagon’s public reporting minimum is $5 million; contracted support for smaller scale tasks, like a particular exercise, is likely to fall below that minimum.

Oct 30/09: A $43,514,490 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-09-D-0021), exercising exercise an option for contractor owned and operated type III high subsonic (about 2,800 flight hours) and Type IV supersonic aircraft (about 1,000 flight hours) in support of the Navy’s Commercial Air Services (CAS) program for the Navy. Same objective as other contracts here.

Work will be performed in Newport News, VA (45%); Point Mugu, CA (35%); and various locations outside the Continental United States (20%), and is expected to be complete in October 2010.

May 4/09: A $14.5 million modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-02-D-3158), exercises an option for airborne threat simulation capabilities to train shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators and aircrew how to counter potential enemy electronic warfare and electronic attack operations.

Work will be performed in Point Mugu, CA (44%); Newport News, VA (42%); Honolulu, HI (9%); and throughout various other countries (5%), and is expected to be complete in June 2009.

March 19/09: A $27.9 million* indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for contractor owned and operated type III High Subsonic (Hawker Hunter and A-4 Skyhawk, approx. 1,099 flight hours) and Type IV Supersonic aircraft (IAI Kfir, approx. 359 flight hours) in support of the Commercial Air Services (CAS) program for the U.S. Navy. CAS also employs services like Omega’s aerial refueling tankers.

This contract is focused on “a wide variety of airborne threat simulation capabilities to train shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators and aircrew how to counter potential enemy electronic warfare and electronic attack operations….” Work will be performed in Newport News, VA (45%); Point Mugu, CA (35%); and various locations outside the Continental United States (20%), and is expected to be complete in October 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $11.8 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, and 4 offers were received. (N00019-09-D-0021).

* = Amount subsequently corrected by the Pentagon, from the originally-stated $35.2 million.

2008: Ex-Israeli A-4N Skyhawks added to the ATAC fleet. Note the extended tailpipes, originally fitted to divert strikes from small shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles away from the airframe and engine.

April 28/06: A $10.6 million modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-02-D-3158) exercises an option for “airborne threat simulation capabilities to train shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators and aircrew how to counter potential enemy electronic warfare and electronic attack operations”.

Work will be performed in San Diego, CA (45%); Norfolk, VA (45%); and at various locations across the United States (10%); and is expected to be complete in April 2007.

April 28/05: A $9.7 million ceiling-priced modification to a previously awarded contract (N00019-02-D-3158) exercises an option for airborne threat simulation and electronic warfare capabilities to train shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators, using supersonic and subsonic aircraft.

Work will be performed in San Diego, CA (45%); Norfolk, VA (45%), and at various locations across the United States (10%); and is expected to be complete in April 2006.

2004: Ex-Swiss F.58 Hawker Hunters with their “Hunter 80” upgrades are added to the ATAC fleet.

April 26/02: ATAC receives a $9.3 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery contract for “airborne threat simulation capabilities to train shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators and aircrew how to counter potential enemy electronic warfare (EW) and electronic attack (EA) operations in today’s electronic Combat (EC) environment by utilizing super and subsonic aircraft.”

Work will be performed in San Diego, (75%) and Norfolk, VA (25%), and is to be complete by April 2003. This contract was competitively procured by electronic request for proposals, with one offer received (N00019-02-D-3158).

2002: Ex-Israeli Kfir C2s added to ATAC’s fleet.

1997: ATAC begins flying 2 ex-Danish J-35 Drakens as supersonic targets for Navy exercises. Those aircraft are no longer serve with ATAC.

1996: ATAC begins operations.

Additional Readings

• ATAC – Aircraft. Note that they refer to “F-21 Kfir.” The F-21s were actually Kfir C1s, leased by the US Navy for aggressor training. ATAC operates the more advanced Kfir C2s.

• Wikipedia – IAI Kfir

• Air Force World – Israel: Kfir fighter

• History Channel, “Dogfights” – The “Desert Aces” video (Full Episodes/ Desert Aces) offers in-depth dissection of a fight where Israeli Mirage IIIs faced off against Jordanian Hawker Hunters. It also covers the Kfir’s most storied pilot: Israeli Col. Giora Epstein (ret.), the world’s highest-scoring jet ace with 17 kills. His most famous fight, covered in this episode, involved a lone battle in his Nesher (modified Mirage V, Kfir predecessor) against 11 Egyptian MiG-21s during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Epstein scored 4 kills while driving off the MiGs, and says that he preferred the Neshers and Kfirs to his final mount, the F-16: “Me, myself, as a pilot, I need the feelings [of the plane].... and in F-16, you miss it…. F-16, you can have unbelievable achievements. But the feeling is not the same.”

• Wikipedia – A-4 Skyhawk

• Global Security – A4D (A-4) Skyhawk

• DID (Dev 14/08) – Israel’s Skyhawk Scandal Leads to End of an Era.

• Air Vectors – The Hawker Hunter.

• Air Vectors – The SAAB 35 Draken. Like the Avro Arrow, far ahead of its time. Unlike the Arrow, its government stuck with it and the plane became a long-serving success. Austria’s Drakens were the last planes in front line service; they retired in 2005.

• Tactical Air Support, Inc. – Official site (under construction). A firm in Reno, NV that offers similar services, and recently acquired a pair of ex-Ukrainian SU-27s. An Aviation Week report says that the rest of the fleet consists of MiG-17s and Czech L-29/L-39 Albatros trainer and light attack jets.