DOES THE USAF NEED LIGHT ATTACK?

Combat Aircraft looks at the OA-X program and asks: is it a pure experiment or the prelude to a new light attack aircraft for the US Air Force?

OA-X

IN JULY 2017, the US Air Force began flight demonstrations in support of the so-called OA-X capability assessment at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. The OA-X assessment is not an air force acquisition program, but an evaluation aimed at exploring the capabilities and characteristics required for undertaking close air support (CAS), light attack and armed reconnaissance missions from austere locations in permissive and semi-permissive environments.

The OA-X assessment may eventually lead to a US Air Force decision to proceed with an actual purchase of a light attack aircraft, with a ‘program of record’ and an eventual tender for a light attack aircraft, though this is far from certain. Lt Gen Arnold Bunch, the USAF’s acquisition deputy, has said that the OA-X assessment at Holloman could lead to another experiment, a combat demonstration, or even an immediate acquisition program.

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