LAS in, LAS out: Counter-Insurgency Planes for the USA and its Allies

LAR/ LAAS Contenders

Gracie Under Fire: EMB-314/ A-29 Super Tucano

The winning Super Tucano/ ALX aircraft is known as the A-29 to Brazil’s FAB, but abroad, it’s the EMB-314 multi-role successor to Embraer’s widely-used EMB-312 Tucano trainer. A-29 is better for marketing a light atack plane, though, and Embraer is trying to shift the designation for the up-engined version using the 1,600hp PT6A-68-3 with FADEC. The Super Tucano offers better flight performance than the EMB 312 Tucano, plus armoring and wing-mounted machine guns, weapons integration with advanced surveillance and targeting pods, precision-guided bombs, and even air-to-air missiles. This makes it an excellent territorial defense and close support plane for low-budget air forces, as well as a surveillance asset with armed attack capability. Brazil uses it this way, for instance, alongside very advanced EMB-145 airborne radar and maritime patrol jets.

The Super Tucano is a large and heavy 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. On the other hand, veteran pilots have praised the quality of its ride, the power of its large control surfaces at load and in crosswinds, and its level of visibility from both seats.

Unlike its fellow contenders, the aircraft carries 2 of FN’s M3P .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the wings, leaving its hardpoints free for other weapons or fuel. Its AN/AAQ-22 Star SAFIRE II surveillance and targeting turret was designed-in from the outset and is mounted under the nose, offering a better field of view and fewer blind spots. Avionics are generally from Elbit Systems, and the plane supports a variety of weapons including gun pods; rocket pods; bombs including Brazilian cluster and incendiary weapons, and various laser-guided bombs; the ability to mount surveillance and targeting pods like RAFAEL and Northrop-Grumman’s popular LITENING; and even an array of short-range air-to-air missile options that reportedly include the AIM-9L Sidewinder, Brazil’s MAA-1, and Israel’s Python 4/5.

It hasn’t fired laser-guided rockets yet, but it has all of the required capabilities. LAS variants will probably add the AGM-114 Hellfire light strike missile, but the Super Tucano is already integrated with the heavier AGM-65 Maverick. Elbit’s DASH helmet-mounted display is reportedly an option, and a partnership with Boeing looks set to add GPS-guided JDAM family and GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs.

Beyond Brazil (99 planes), the Super Tucano already had customers in Colombia (25), Chile (12), the Dominican Republic (8), and Ecuador (18) by the time the LAS RFP was issued in August 2010. Since then, the platform has added the African countries of Angola (6), Burkina Fasso (3), and Mauritania (1-4?); and Indonesia (16). Guatemala (6) is a pending customer.

AT-6: The Kansas Contender

Beechcraft’s AT-6 is a derivative of its widely-produce T-6 trainer, which equips the US military and serves with a number of other air forces around the world. It’s up-engined with Pratt and Whitney’s 1,600hp PTA?68D engine, and adds Kevlar armoring inserts, CMC Esterline’s mission modified Cockpit 4000, a mission system based on Lockheed Martin’s A-10C upgrades, and L-3 WESCAM’s MX-15Di sensor suite in a mid-plane belly mounting. Thales Visionix’s Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display is reportedly an option as well.

One advantage of the AT-6B is that it can add new capabilities by leveraging outside investments in T-6B Texan and A-10C Thunderbolt operational flight program software updates. It’s also optimized for inexpensive operation, and leverages commonality with American pilot training infrastructure. On the flip side, aspects of its trainer design (narrow landing gear, low runway clearance, rear seat visibility less important, low armoring) are disadvantages in austere counterinsurgency situations. Another disadvantage is the need to mount its surveillance turret farther back in the belly, which creates line of sight blockages from its belly-mounted antenna blade (see photo) and from the AT-6B’s wings when tilted.

The AT-6B light attack/COIN version was actually at Farnborough 2006, back when they were still Raytheon Aircraft. It has been developed in an iterative fashion since then, and has been helped by participating in special forces exercises and working with the US Air National Guard on concept studies and demonstrations. By the end of 2012, weapons integrated and tested on the AT-6 included .50-cal/ 12.7mm gun pods; unguided bombs up to 500 pounds, Paveway-II laser-guided bombs up to 500 pounds; APKWS (BAE/GD), TALON (Raytheon/EAI), and GATR (ATK/Elbit) laser-guided 70mm rockets; and AGM-114P+ Hellfire short-range strike missiles. There has also been talk of adding AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air weapons. Even so, a corporate representative told us that:

“Understand that the airplane is not intended for heavy combat. Its primary role would be counter insurgency and ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance) 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.”

Iraq is the only country to submit an official request to buy the AT-6, but several years later, there’s no AT-6 contract follow-on to its 15-plane T-6B trainer fleet.

AT-802U: A Missed Opportunity?

Outside the 2 finalists, contenders for various phases of the LAAR/LAS competition have reportedly included Alenia Aermacchi’s M-346 advanced jet trainer (not integrated with weapons), Boeing’s proposed OV-10X revival of the Vietnam-era Bronco FAC/light attack plane (developmental), and even the Pilatus PC-6 Porter/ AU-23A armed short-take-off transport, which was also used in Vietnam.

The most interesting option was the Air Tractor AT-802U. It didn’t make the LAS finals, but it has an awful lot to recommend it to customers like Afghanistan. This single-engine turboprop is powered by the PT6A-67F engine, and adapted from the firm’s popular AT-802A crop duster. That sounds like an odd derivation, but it isn’t. Agricultural planes need good visibility, ruggedness, sure handling, the ability to work from unimproved runways or fields, long operating time, and low maintenance requirements. Every one of those traits translates directly into counter-insurgency requirements. In places like Afghanistan, where the narcotics trade has a large footprint and agriculture is a big part of the economy, crop dusting defended fields and agricultural surveying can are valuable counter-insurgency requirements all by themselves.

The AT-802 is big enough to handle the added payload and cockpit and engine armoring. The AT-802U variant combines an 8,000 pound/ 3,629 kg payload with an impressive 10-hour ISR mission time. Tested armament includes dual .50 cal. GAU-19/A 3-barrel Gatling guns, dual M260 7-tube rocket launchers, and 500 pound unguided Mk-82 bombs on 9 combined wing and fuselage hard points (expandable to 15). Its L3 Wescam MX-15Di sensor turret system is housed in a retractable mount under the nose, and it has mounting provisions for an optional AAR-47/ALE-47 threat warning and decoy-dispensing system. The cockpit is night-vision compatible, and its optional Compact Multi-Channel Data Link (CMDL) system is compatible with ROVER video feeds.

The AT-802U is also configurable for more advanced systems, but that would require more investment by customers like the US Department of State, the United Arab Emirates, or others. It’s combat-proven in Department of State Latin American counter-drug operations, where it has taken over 200 bullet strikes with no loss of life, and racked up a miniscule average of 1.7 maintenance man-hours per flight hour.

Unfortunately, this plane was excluded by several clauses in the original LAS RFP. Its landing gear doesn’t retract, for instance, so clause 3.1.2.4 of the SRD disqualified it. The LAS also had to be “configured to be readily available for use as either a two-seat advanced trainer or a two-seat attack platform with no field level conversion.” That isn’t what the AT-802U does.

What Now for LAS?

The Light Air Support contract is the much-diminished version of programs that have gone by names like OA-X and Light Attack/ Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR). Its devolution is instructive, because all the interests, rivalries, and prejudices that have brought things to this point are still operating. The past could be prologue.

Political/ legal obstruction. The Congressional resistance that stalled past Super Tucano requests from people like Afghan front commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal is still in place, and the legal and political reactions to the USAF’s 2nd award are still pending. What’s certain is that Beechcraft is in serious straits as it emerges from bankruptcy, and Boeing recently closed their Wichita, KS plant. Congressional delegations from smaller states with less diversified economies traditionally fight harder for these kinds of contracts, and this one has overtones of life and death for local industry, despite its small size. Expect a serious fight again.

Military disinterest. The USAF is still focused on big ticket fighters. Its pet plane is now the F-35 fighter instead of the F-22A, and the KC-46A tanker program has joined the F-35 in sucking all of the oxygen from the room. A country that seems disinclined to pursue counterinsurgency wars strengthens those big-ticket interest groups in the USAF, many of whom have been hostile to OA-X and its ilk from the beginning. Despite the operating savings, LAS’ very contract structure and order pattern demonstrates little appetite for domestic use as JTAC training and surveillance aircraft with front-line capability. Even US SOCOM, who has wanted Super Tucanos for a couple of years, is going to have its hands full funding desperately-needed replacement of its C-130 and helicopter fleets.

Nor is there much call for counterinsurgency strikes to kill American civilians – with the admitted exception AECOM’s Col. Benson (ret.), who used to head up the US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies officer training facility at Fort Leavenworth, KS.

With budget crunches abounding, future funding is not guaranteed. Even present funding could now be jeopardized, by the same Congressional politics that has derailed related efforts before.

Afghan instabilities. Along the way, Afghanistan has devolved, and its air force just retired 20 C-27A transports that the USA spent about $600 million buying and delivering. All parties are keeping omerta on the subject beyond Alenia’s “inability to perform to the contract,” but there are rumors that Afghan corruption was a big factor in the inability to maintain them. The regime’s ability to avoid the C-27A’s fate for its Super Tucanos has to be viewed as questionable, and its mere survival to take full delivery is not a complete certainty.

The key to LAS may turn out to be its ability to recruit other customers. Mexico needs planes like this, and gets a lot of US aid, but it already picked an armed T-6C+. Beechcraft factories in Mexico ensure that they won’t switch. Iraq has a standing AT-6 request they could now switch to the Super Tucano under LAS, but it’s hard to see US funding for that at this point. LAS would still be useful as a pass-through vehicle for an Iraqi purchase, and that might turn out to be important for the program.

Beyond Iraq, Embraer has proven to be perfectly capable of selling the plane itself in Latin America, Africa, and even Asia. US aid to East Africa, Thailand, or the Philippines would seem to be the best near-term bet for LAS beyond Iraq – but no-one can predict the future, and world events could create a demand elsewhere before 2019.

Contracts & Key Events

Sept 25/14: 1st delivery. The 1st A-29 Super Tucano from the LAS contract is rolled out during a ceremony in Jacksonville, FL. Embraer expects to wrap up deliveries by mid-2015. The Brazilian company says it hired 72 employees (complemented by dozens of contractors) at the 40,000-square-foot facility since it opened the facility last year. They plan to keep using the plant for additional Super Tucano sales through FMS, while Embraer is to expand its corporate jet manufacturing capabilities in Melbourne, 175 miles further south in Florida. SNC on the other hand is laying off 90 people in Colorado after its loss in the CCiCap competition.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, it took 6 months of tense negotiations for president-elect Ashraf Ghani and runner up Abdullah Abdullah to come to a power sharing understanding. The Taliban have redoubled their offensive as NATO troops were phasing out their presence, coordinating attacks involving larger numbers of insurgents. Signing security agreements with the US and NATO is a high priority, but whether the West will leave more than a token presence entrenched at their bases seems uncertain. With a divided population, weak economy, and booming drug production, the new Afghan leaders have their work cut out for them.

Sources: SNC, Embraer, Denver Post: “Sierra Nevada Space Systems’ Dream Chaser employees laid off”.

Oct 3/13: Support. The Diario Oficial for the Brazilian MdD includes PORTARIA No 1.787. It states that the FAB’s “Diretor de Material Aeronautico e Belico” Lt. Gen. John Paul Cury has been instructed to negotiate agreements between the FAB’s COMAER and Embraer, and the US LAS program. Sources: Diario Oficial da Uniao [in Portuguese].

Aug 5/13: Senate FY 2014 budget appropriators have eliminated the $418.6 million Afghan LAS buy for a 2nd batch of 20 A-29s, in the wake of the SIGAR’s recent report (q.v. June 2013).

USAF Maj. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the senior airman in theater, describes the AAF as “small but capable,” and says they began flying Mi-35 attack helicopter missions again in July 2013. Aviation Week.

June 2013: The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan (SIGAR) report’s title sums it up: “Afghan Special Mission Wing: DOD Moving Forward with $771.8 Million Purchase of Aircraft that the Afghans Cannot Operate and Maintain”. SIGAR recommends freezing all activity under the 48-plane contracts until improvements happen.

The Special Mission Wing won’t operate A-29s, it will have 4 squadrons that each contain 7 Mi-17 helicopters and 4 PC-12 light transports. On the other hand, some of the factors behind its disarray are common to the Afghan Air Force: maintenance issues, for instance, and better-paying offers elsewhere for pilots who know English. The other connection is political – the SMW’s disarray comes back to haunt AAF Super Tucano funding. SIGAR report [PDF].

June 18/13: AT-6, Plan C. Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture tells Flight International that he doesn’t expect Congressional lobbying to derail LAS, but thinks they have a 24-plane launch customer for the AT-6C that they’ll be able to announce before the end of 2013. Flight International.

May 2013: FY 2014 OCO Request. The Pentagon releases their “Fiscal Year 2014 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Request Afghanistan Security Forces Fund” request [PDF], which includes provisions for 20 more LAS planes, budgeted at $416.8 million:

“The initial purchase of twenty Light Air Support (LAS) fixed wing aircraft was funded with FY 2012 funds. An additional 20 aircraft, funded with FY 2014 funds, will bring the total number of LAS aircraft procured for the AAF to 40. A key challenge facing the Afghan Air Force (AAF) is its ability to directly support and assist the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) with air to ground kinetic actions. Currently, ISAF assets with some assistance from the Afghan Special Mission Wing carry this task out. The LAS program is intended to fill this AAF capability gap. The LAS cost per unit is $20.8 million. This is a 2014 [DID: withdrawal date] Enabler.”

April 25/13: Beechcraft’s case. Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture lays out the core of their protest and case. He starts by saying that the RFP was about compliance with requirements, contends that their AT-6 met all threshold and 5/7 objective requirements, and says their bid was $125 million cheaper. None of that is really new.

On a technical level. Boisture says that the AT-6’s design choices give it better takeoff, climb and cruise performance. The Super Tucano may be larger, but it carries 100 pounds less fuel, and unlike the AT-6 it can’t land at its Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight. Boisture adds that using the EO/IR turret forces the Super Tucano to give up its centerline weapons station.

It’s useful to know what the expected arguments are, but really, this is up to the GAO now. Aviation Week.

April 19/13: No Stop Work Order. The US Court of Federal Claims sides with the USAF decision to ignore a Stop Work Order until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviews their award. Beechcraft continues its protest with the GAO. Kansas.com.

March 21/13: Lawsuit. Beechcraft Corporation announces that they filed suit again in the Court of Federal Claims, contesting the USAF’s decision to lift the stay of performance on the Light Air Support (LAS) contract while the GAO reviews the protest.

Note that their suit does not contest the award entire, which was the key to overturning the contract last time. Right now, they’re looking for an injunction to halt the existing contract while the GAO reviews their protest. If they’re successful, they’d keep their biggest political argument: the $125 million difference between the bid costs.

March 15/13: As you were. The USAF can’t stop Beechcraft’s protest, but they can use provisions of the Competition in Contracting Act to mandate that the best interests of the United States require continuation of the contract, while the protest takes its course.

They’ve just done that for LAS, and Beechcraft and the Kansas congressional delegation aren’t happy. A letter from state representatives cites waste of taxpayer dollars, which is true if the contract is overturned. What they don’t say is that it also impedes political efforts to stop the contract, by raising cancellation costs so that there’s a lot less difference between Beechcraft + cancellation fees, vs. SNC/Embraer. Beechcraft | Bloomberg | Wichita Eagle.

March 8/13: Protest. Beechcraft announces that they’re protesting the LAS award to the GAO. The award will be on hold until a decision is reached, which must come within 90 days. Their rationale? Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture:

“Following our debrief with the Air Force earlier this week, we are very perplexed by this decision. Our belief that we have the best aircraft was confirmed by the Air Force rating our aircraft ‘exceptional’…. We simply don’t understand how the Air Force can justify spending over 40 percent more – over $125 million more – for what we consider to be less capable aircraft…”

A couple of notes. It’s possible for multiple contenders to rate as “exceptional”, but still differ with respect to objective (desired vs. mandatory) requirements. In this case, the best value competition had 3 categories, where capability was most important, past performance the 2nd, and cost in 3rd place. It’s hard to argue the AT-6B as superior on capability, and past performance is a tough row given that the A-29 is operational and the AT-6B isn’t. Within the challenge, however, these questions aren’t going to be relevant. GAO’s focus will be whether the USAF violated its own RFP guidelines, or treated one contender unfairly. Congress is where price will be relevant. A better and more proven capability for a foreign air force, flying aircraft bought with American money, may not be as important to politicians as it is to the US military. Beechcraft | SNC/Embraer.

Full comparison graphic, originals from SNC (JPG, 345.4k).

Sept 17/12: AT-6. Hawker Beechcraft announces [PDF] that they’ve completed Phase III weapons assessment at Eglin AFB, FL. Phases I and II of the weapons assessment included computer-aided deliveries of general purpose and laser-guided bombs, as well as air-to-ground and air-to-air gunnery using the aircraft’s two 50-caliber guns.

By the end of Phase III, weapons integrated and tested on the AT-6 included .50-cal/ 12.7mm gun pods; unguided bombs up to 500 pounds, Paveway-II laser-guided bombs up to 500 pounds; APKWS (BAE/GD), TALON (Raytheon/EAI), and GATR (ATK/Elbit) laser-guided 70mm rockets; and AGM-114P+ Hellfire short-range strike missiles.

That’s a very good array, which will suit the needs of most American allies. As a matter of comparison, the Super Tucano hasn’t tested laser-guided 70mm rockets or AGM-114 Hellfire missiles yet, but it offers a wider array of gun pods; a wider array of laser-guided weapons; Brazilian incendiary and cluster bombs; an array of air-to-air missiles including the AIM-9L Sidewinder, Brazil’s MAA-1 Piranha, and Israel’s Python 4/5s; and the heavier Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick strike missile.

July 24/12: Late. Air Force Brig. Gen. Timothy Ray, who heads the NATO air training command in Afghanistan, sums things up by saying that “Afghanistan is unlikely to gain an independent, fully functioning air force until around 2016 or 2017, two to three years after the U.S. pullout”.

The rest of the article provides a snapshot of the Afghan Air Force’s current state, and notes that the USA has spent nearly $300 million to upgrade the AAF’s Shindad AB facilities. Wall Street Journal.

July 10/12: Boeing and Embraer announce cooperation on the Super Tucano program, which will involve integrating Boeing weapons on the aircraft. Their GPS-guided JDAM family of bomb kits would be front and center in any such effort, and Boeing’s official statement is that:

“The new weapons integration capacity enhances the solution presented to the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) program by not only meeting program requirements, but exceeding them in ways that are important to the customer.”

July 9/12: HBC Chinese ownership? Hawker Beechcraft, Inc. signs an exclusivity agreement that may lead to a buyout by China’s Superior Aviation Beijing Co. for $1.79 billion. This deal explicitly excludes Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company (HBDC), which would remain a separate entity. That would keep the T-6 and AT-6 out of China’s Hands, but the USA is mostly done with its JPATS trainer buys, so HBDC’s stand-alone survival would be questionable.

June 19/12: Bids in. Sierra Nevada Corporation announces that they’re participating in the new LAS source selection process, but they’re still pursuing court action to reinstate the December 2011 contract. Their release also contains a jab at the removal of any requirement for a flight demonstration.

SNC commits that about 86% of each aircraft’s dollar value will come from components supplied by U.S. companies “or countries that qualify under the Buy American Act,” and that Embraer will invest about $3 million in bringing the Jacksonville, FL.

June 12/13: SNC lawsuit. SNC has gone from a motion to see documents, to a lawsuit in the United States Court of Federal Claims that contests the termination of its December 2011 contract, and attacks the terms of the new RFP.

“According to SNC the cancellation of the contract was an extreme response to what appears to be paperwork errors on the part of the USAF. Moreover, the revised Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by the USAF is tilted in favor of the competition.”

To bolster that last point, SNC cites the elimination of flight demonstration/evaluation, the delay of First Article Testing until the point of delivery (!) in July 2014, and the fact that Amendment 8 now allows improvements that were made to the aircraft since the original source selection to be admitted into consideration. Their point of contention is that the USAF gave Hawker Beechcraft millions of Title X dollars for development, exercises etc. with US ANG pilots [DID: vid. Oct 14/10 entry], and that the products of that work should be tipping the scales. We understand the fairness argument there, but the EMB-314/ A-29 has a number of military customers doing the same things in real-life operational missions, so it’s not like there’s a major disadvantage. SNC.

May 8/12: HBC gripe. After an initial review of the revised LAS RFP, HawkerBeechcraft has this to say [PDF]:

“We are profoundly disappointed to see in the amended RFP that the USAF continues to permit antiquated pilot accommodation standards for ejection seat equipped aircraft which can place both USAF and partner nation pilots at unnecessary and higher risk. Those standards were developed by the USAF to protect their own male and female pilot population, and every aircraft acquired by the USAF should meet those modern safety standards.”

The Super Tucano reportedly uses Martin-Baker’s Mk 10 LCX ejection seat. Martin-Baker is the standard provider for pretty much every Western aircraft, including every US fighter type.

April 17/12: SNC sues. Sierra Nevada files a court motion in the botched Light Air Support award. They would like to see the content of the Air Force’s Commander Directed Investigation (CDI) of the LAS program, to assess whether a recompete is really warranted. SNC | Reuters.

Feb 2/12: Lobbying. “Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the winner of the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) competition, today issued a point-by-point rebuttal of misinformation being spread by the disqualified contender for the contract.”

January 2012: AT-6. BAE’s APKWS and Raytheon’s TALON laser-guided rockets fired from a HawkerBeechcraft AT-6C turboprop light attack plane at Eglin AFB.

The shots will help both BAE and HawkerBeechcraft, whose setback in the 20-plane American LAS competition was mitigated by an initial sale of 6 “weapons capable” T-6C+ to Mexico. Mexico has used existing Pilatus trainers against domestic insurgencies before. The T-6C family’s proven ability to fire laser-guided rockets makes the new planes more valuable to Mexico, and to other potential customers. BAE | HawkerBeechcraft | Aviation Week.

Jan 25/12: Second Line of Defense:

“We are publishing a USAF background paper currently circulating on the Hill. It validates everything we have written on Second Line of Defense for more than a year about the LAS competition…. This paper provides information on the LAS acquisition. Due to the ongoing litigation brought by Hawker Beechcraft Defense Corporation (HBDC), the United States Air Force (USAF) cannot release information regarding the LAS competition.”

Jan 19/12: A Defence Talk article sums up the current situation:

“Since September, many unexpected changes have been made to the original USAF requirements. At the start of the competition, the Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (LAAR) program, planned to supply up to 100 aircraft to the USAF, was paired with Light Air Support (LAS) to supply 20 aircraft to Afghan Air Force.

Nevertheless, in September the USAF backtrack on LAAR, reducing the number to 15 aircraft…. The change in priorities left Hawker and the SNC/Embraer team to duck it out for LAAR’s 15 and LAS’s 20 aircraft requirement…. Meantime the U.S. Navy has run into difficulties of its own, by clearly preferring the Super Tucano after it took part in an evaluation phase known as Imminent Fury programme in 2009 to develop a CAS/COIN platform for special operations. Since then, congress rejected additional funds of $22 million for further development in 2010 and $17 million last October for phase II known as Combat Dragon II programme for deployment and combat confirmation of the Super Tucano’s capabilities in Afghanistan.”

Jan 4/12: Stop work. In light of the pending legal review, the USAF issues a stop work order for the LAS contract that was awarded to SNC. Source.

Dec 27/11: HBC Sues. Hawker Beechcraft announces a lawsuit with the Court of Federal Claims.

“The company still has no concrete reasons for the AT-6’s exclusion, having been denied explanation by the U.S. Air Force on two occasions. The LAS contract is valued at nearly $1 billion of U.S. taxpayer money and exclusion of the AT-6 could result in a de facto award to a non-U.S. company. “We are disappointed in the GAO’s decision as we were relying on their investigation to provide transparency into what has been a bidding process of inconsistent, irregular and constantly changing requirements…” said Bill Boisture, Hawker Beechcraft chairman and CEO.”

Dec 22/11: GAO OK. The GAO dismisses Hawker Beechcraft’s protest of the LAS award. All it will say of the USAF’s actions is that:

“After reviewing HBDC’s responses to issues raised during discussions, the Air Force concluded that HBDC had not adequately corrected deficiencies in its proposal. In this regard, the agency concluded that “multiple deficiencies and significant weaknesses found in HBDC’s proposal make it technically unacceptable and results in unacceptable mission capability risk.”

Their ruling didn’t address that. It’s a narrow dismissal, on a narrow point of timing:

“Accordingly, HBDC was required to request a debriefing within three days of its receipt of the Air Force notice on November 4, or, absent a debriefing, was required to file its protest no later than 10 days after that date.[4] Where HBDC did not timely request a debriefing, and failed to file its protest until 17 days after it was notified that its proposal had been excluded from the competitive range, the protest is untimely and must be dismissed.”

Nov 20/11: Lobbying knife fight. We submit “Obama Admin Bans US Aircraft Maker, Favors Non-US Firm with Ties to Iran on Light Aircraft Project” as a snapshot of the type of public lobbying underway. It cites the fact that the order would keep the T-6 line open past 2015, securing “1,400 employees in 20 states – including 800 at Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita” who work on the AT-6 and T-6 programs.

We’re not sure how long 20 planes can keep them busy, but OK, sure. The article also focuses on Embraer’s sale of 40 EMB-312 Tucano trainers to Iran 22 years ago, in 1989. Tucanos are globally popular training aircraft in service with 17 air forces. They lack the EMB-314 Super Tucano’s purpose-built close air support construction and mounted machine guns, but they can be armed. Iran has armed them for close support roles within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Air Force (as distinct from Iran’s regular air force), and Brazil’s Lula administration has remained friendly to Iran without being aggressive toward the USA.

Jan 18/11: LAS. System Demonstration completed. Source.

Dec 28/10: LAS. Vendor proposals received. Source.

Sept 14/10: In the wake of the LAS RFP, most of the “Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance” discussion at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference has shifted toward building the capabilities of partner air forces, and less around American use. Derek Hess, director of AT-6 development programs for Hawker Beechcraft, describes it as:

“…a structurally enhanced Beechcraft T-6A/B airframe with a more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6A-68D engine, and a Lockheed Martin A-10C Mission System that is integrated with the T-6B primary flight avionics system. It also has the same sensor suite as the MC-12W with a laser designator/range finder. “When our airplane wakes up in the morning, it believes it’s an A-10…”

May 10/10: LAAR. IHS Jane’s:

“There have been several proposals for LAAR – from the Aermacchi M-346 jet, through a reborn OV-10 Bronco, to the Air Tractor AT-802U militarised agricultural aircraft – but the front-runners appear to be two evolutions of turboprop trainers: Embraer’s Super Tucano and the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6.”

April 8/10: AT-6. Hawker Beechcraft begins flying its modified AT-6 prototype, which it expects to submit for LAAR. Defense Tech.

Feb 5/10: OV-10X. Speaking at the Singapore Air Show at Changi Airport, Boeing’s vice-president of business development for Global Strike Systems, Jeff Johnson says that interest has been strong enough to ensure continued development of the modernized OV-10X Bronco, even if it loses the LAAR competition for up to 100 aircraft.

“Several countries have got very excited about the type of capability that an OV-10 could bring to their air forces,” he said. He added that the company could have a flying prototype ready within nine months, but that the real challenge would be costing the low-rate production run of the LAAR programme (the USAF has a requirement for 100 aircraft).”

Despite this statement, after the LAAR peters out and vanishes, Boeing drops the project, and ends up helping Embraer with its Super Tucano. IHS Jane’s.

Feb 2/10: LAAR funding delay. DefenseTech reports that:

“Air Force budget officials said the so-called “light attack aircraft” would not have any significant funding until the 2012 submission, where the service will allot $172 million for the so-called COIN plane.

The Air Force did, however, take a step toward a COIN wing by ordering up 15 Light Mobility Aircraft to the tune of nearly $66 million. According to a submission to FedBizOpps, the LiMA must be able to carry a minimum of six pax and crew, operate from “austere landing surfaces” and carry a minimum of 1800 pounds with crew. The plane needs a loading door that can take litters and a 36 inch warehouse skid and have two pilot stations but be able to be flown by one pilot.”

LiMA turned out to be the Pilatus PC-12, which is currently in use by US special forces.

Jan 20/10: LAAR. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley specifically mentions LAAR as part of the USAF’s “balanced force” concept, during his remarks to the Air, Space, and Cyberspace Power in the 21st Century Conference. Full transcript.

Dec 4/09: LAAR. The US military is expected to ask for $90 million in FY 2010, to begin the LAAR program. Long term costing estimates are $2 billion for 100 aircraft, to be placed under Air Combat Command rather than AFSOC. The goal is to have the first 24 reach IOC by 2013.

Possible contenders include the AirTractor AT-802U (a modified crop duster), Alenia Aermacchi M-346, Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, Hawker Beechcraft AT-6, and Boeing’s OV-10X Bronco. Some sources also mention the Pilatus PC-6 Porter short-take-off transport, which was armed into the AU-23A, used in Vietnam, and later sold to the Thai Air Force. Defence IQ | Defense Media Network | Airforce Technology (some elements inaccurate).

Sept 16/09: AT-6. Hawker Beechcraft and Lockheed Martin have teamed to compete for the LAAR competition, with Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY acting as the AT-6’s mission systems integrator. Space War.

Sept 11/09: OV-10X. Boeing confirms that it will bid a modernized version of the Vietnam-era OV-10 Bronco for the USAF’s LAAR requirement. The OV-10 served very capably as a forward air control and light strike plane in Vietnam, but like the “Misty” F-100F Commando Sabres fast FACs, it was an uncommonly dangerous way for a pilot to make a living.

Boeing inherits the OV-10 Bronco’s design rights from its 1980s acquisition of North American Rockwell. The DEW Line.

April 2008: OA-X. Col. Gary L. Crowder, then commander of Air Forces Central’s Combined Air and Space Operations Center, makes a serious pitch for using light attack aircraft for missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, and details an international partnership building program.

Crowder has spent much of his Air Force career studying irregular warfare and counterinsurgency, but service leadership is busy arguing for more F-22As, and is very unreceptive until Gen. Norton A. Schwartz becomes Air Force Chief of Staff in mid-2008. Discussion of an “OA-X” aircraft begins. Airforce Magazine.

Additional Readings

• FBO.gov (Aug 12/10 – May 30/12, #FA8637-10-R-6000) – Light Air Support (LAS) Aircraft

• Embraer – Super Tucano

• SNC – Built for the Mission. Site promoting the EMB-314/ A-29 Super Tucano for LAS.

• Beechcraft – Light Attack

• Beechcraft – Mission-Ready AT-6. Site promoting the AT-6 for LAS, and beyond.

• Air Tractor – AT-802U

News & Views

• Defence Review Asia (Oct 22/12) – Super Tucano leads the flock

• Defence Talk (Sept 10/11) – Bringing Back Counter-Insurgency: AT-6B vs. A-29B

• Three Capes (March 20/10) – Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance: It’s Time to Change The Way We Fight The Long War. By Col James Jinnette.

• Airforce Magazine (January 2010) – The Light Attack Aircraft