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Super Tucano ALX
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Flight International reports that the USAF’s Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) has issued a solicitation on behalf of the Iraqi Air Force [IqAF] to buy at least 8 counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft that can serve a dual role as a intermediate to advanced single-engine turboprop trainers. The aircraft should be delivered from November 2008 – April 2009, with options to buy additional aircraft in annual lots of 6.

The solicitation requires a single-engine turboprop powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 family engine, in “wide use,” with an advanced suite of sensors and weapons including electro-optical sensors and guided weapons capability. Indeed, it went one step farther and narrowed the field to 4 candidates that can be difficult for a novice to tell apart:

KAI’s KO-1
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Korea Aerospace’s KO-1 Woong Bee, the armed forward air control & light attack version of its KT-1 training aircraft. The KT-1 project began in 1988, and the first aircraft was delivered to South Korea’s air force in 2000.

Pilatus PC-9M. The Swiss firm has created a widely-popular trainer turboprop. The design has been licensed by other firms (see below), and Pilatus has sold this aircraft to 14 countries beyond Switzerland – including 20 aircraft sold to Iraq from 1987.

Super Tucano
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Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano/ ALX – see also Embraer’s pages. The Super Tucano is used in an armed role by Brazil as a patrol and border overwatch aircraft in the Amazon region, and by Colombia and the Dominican Republic; the older EMB-312 Tucano trainer aircraft has been bought by 17 countries. Brazil also has some familiarity with Iraq, as a mid-level military equipment supplier in previous years.

The Super Tucano has a reputation for being a bit ‘heavy’ as a training platform, as a tradeoff for being built from the ground up as an effective short-field light attack/ patrol/ counter-insurgency aircraft that can operate with little ground support. In 2006, the USA successfully discouraged a $500 million sale of Super Tucanos to Venezuela, a decision that Embraer accepted in good grace. The firm had moved to sweeten the pot for that sale by promising to set up a Florida manufacturing facility; a reprise of that approach might help take some of the “Buy American” label off of…

AT-6B Concept
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Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6B Texan II; the firm also unveiled an AT-6B light attack/COIN version at Farnborough 2006, back when they were still Raytheon Aircraft. The T-6 is the result of iterative modifications to the Pilatus PC-9 design that left it with no common parts; it serves as the USAF’s and US Navy’s JPATS intermediate to advanced training aircraft. It is also used by Canada and Greece. Greece specified that its T-6Bs had to be capable of being armed, but the aircraft was not initially designed for an armed role. A company representative adds:

“Understand that the airplane is not intended for heavy combat. Its primary role would be counter insurgency and ISR as a node within a network. It could provide data and intelligence calling in whatever assets were appropriate to deal with the situation it was encountering.”

Flight International magazine has an April 2007 blog entry by a staffer who flew in a T-6B; the AT-6B variant will simply be a T-6B trainer with kevlar armor and additional equipment as requested by the customer. It certainly sounds as if the company is expecting the Iraqi Air Force Order.

Additional Readings

• Airpower Journal (Spring 1991) – The Role of Tactical Air Power in Low-Intensity Conflict by Capt. Vance C. Bateman, USAF. Via the Internet’s Wayback Machine.

• AYRES V-1-A Vigilante as COIN Aircraft. Also referred to in some quarters as the T-65. Derived from the US Department of State’s Narcotics Eradication Delivery System aircraft, reportedly used in Burma, Thailand, Columbia, Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. They are based out of Patrick AFB in Florida.

• DEW Line – The COIN Comeback Debate

• Defense of the Realm (Sept 23/07) – Jackpot! Covers a series of letters to The Sunday Telegraph, including one from from Group Captain Hastings (Ret.), who commanded the Sultan of Oman’s tactical air force in Dhofar Province in the latter stages of a war which, he writes, “had similarities with the current Afghan operations…. Air strikes were flown against a ruthless and determined enemy equipped with surface-to-air-missiles, heavy machine guns and AK47s.” Their weapon of choice? A slow-flying BAE Strikemaster counter-insurgency aircraft, derived from an RAF trainer. The same fast/jet/slower plane effectiveness dynamic applied back then.

• DID (Sept 26/07) – The Major’s Email: British Harrier Support in Afghanistan, Revisited. Addresses the inherent limitations of fast jet platforms for close air support.