US Air Force launches flight attack competition

The United States Air Force’s Air Force Materiel Command launched a limited competition by way of a Notice of Proposed Contract Action (NPCA) on August 3 for an as yet undisclosed number of flight attack aircraft.

The notice is intended to: “solicit proposals from limited sources and award contract(s) for the production of flight attack aircraft (LAA). LAA will provide an afordable, non-developmental aircraft intended to operate globally in the types of irregular warfare environments that have characterized combat operations over the past 25 years. It is anticipated that formal solicitation will be released in December of 2018 and a contract will be awarded in the fourth quarter of FY2019.”

The notice goes on to say: “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, among the limited sources. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and Textron Aviation are the only irms that appear to possess the necessary capability to meet the requirement within the Air Force’s time frame without causing an unacceptable delay in meeting the needs of the warighter.”

In the small print, the Air Force says: “This NOCA neither constitutes a request for proposal or invitation for bid, nor does it restrict the government to any speciic acquisition approach. This notice is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment to a contract by the government.”

However, it seems clear that only the two main contenders for the of-and-on-again programme variously titled Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance or Light Air Support, or OA-X or AT-X, Embraer and Sierra Nevada’s A-29 Super Tucano and Textron Aviation’s AT-6 Wolverine turboprops will be considered. The Americanmade Textron Scorpion flight jet and South African Paramount Aviation’s advanced highperformance reconnaissance flight aircraft seem to be out of the running.

A response from interested parties was due by August 17.