Future Light Attack - Textron Scorpion

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19 years 9 months

Posts: 12,109

From AWS17 Courtesy Lara Seligman

http://i65.tinypic.com/9fw8qv.png

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9 years 8 months

Posts: 1,123

It would be good it it had the ability to see through folliage.

Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 275

With cannons in the internal bay the Scorpion would be a good low level defence fighter and would be able to defend itself well after dropping ordinance in an attack mission. You cant compare the Scorpion with turboprop attack a/c like the Tucano and PC-9 as the 300kt speed of these a/c are completely ineffective against jet fighters. Remember than all a/c are subsonic at low level so that the Scorpion is as fast as any fighter for low level defence.

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12 years 3 months

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I guess this is the target:

(source https://www.usni.org)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]251728[/ATTACH]

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Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 275

I guess this is the target:

(source https://www.usni.org)

or this
[ATTACH=CONFIG]251731[/ATTACH]

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Member for

14 years

Posts: 54

or this
[ATTACH=CONFIG]251731[/ATTACH]
Who was it that said, "America First"? So any foreign candidates are almost certainly off the table, however good they might be.

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14 years 2 months

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Scorpion in that camo scheme is the winner then.

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14 years

Posts: 54

Has anyone seen any confirmation that the Bronco could be put back into production? How many (if any) are in storage at AMARC?

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12 years 3 months

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Scorpion in that camo scheme is the winner then.

A two tone on top (for the time on tarmac) and an underbelly grey will do for me. I am bored by all this tactical grey/tactical black etc...

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11 years 7 months

Posts: 3,156

A two tone on top (for the time on tarmac) and an underbelly grey will do for me. I am bored by all this tactical grey/tactical black etc...

If purchased these would be operated by the USAF.... don't expect any crowd pleasing paint schemes.

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12 years 3 months

Posts: 5,905

lol. Obviouly. But this...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]251738[/ATTACH] or

[ATTACH=CONFIG]251739[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]251740[/ATTACH]

is really pleasing

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11 years 4 months

Posts: 137

Has anyone seen any confirmation that the Bronco could be put back into production? How many (if any) are in storage at AMARC?

Bronco will never come back. It was a test only with the two Broncos in Iraq, to confirm the idea.

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12 years 11 months

Posts: 203

Bronco will never come back. It was a test only with the two Broncos in Iraq, to confirm the idea.

To confirm the idea is feasible yet reject it anyway? The Bronco seems just as viable as the Super Tucano for such a role.

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12 years 3 months

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Bronco will never come back. It was a test only with the two Broncos in Iraq, to confirm the idea.

Perhaps that

[Speaking about the Scorpion] The jet’s ability to fire precision-guided munitions while maintaining low levels of noise could make it a better choice for urban close-air support than loud, less advanced turboprop planes, [Textron AirLand’s vice president of Scorpion sales] Harris said.

Source (Defense News.com):
Textron sets its sights on US Air Force's light aircraft experiment

A dual buy of airframe is discussed in here and Textron is well placed having two complementary products already.

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19 years 5 months

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Just out of curiosity, I wonder if the Bronco tooling still exists?
The former NAA (and Curtiss during WWII) factory still exists, last I heard it warehouses bureaucrats doing paper work.

Since the 70s, it has been US policy to retain tooling, I recall seing the B-1 tools in storage at Davis-Monthan.

At any rate, the AT-6 sounds like a useful aircraft for low intensity situations, I flew one several years ago and was very impressed by its performance.

However, to make a REALLY low cost (no crew to lose), could a attack aircraft of this type be unmanned?

I also read that the USAF is considering using NCO drone operators as opposed to the current commissioned officer corps, reducing costs even more. Imagine, giving a recent high school graduate the ultimate video game system. :)

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12 years 3 months

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US Air Force completes first round of light attack aircraft demo

It was notably hinted that the Scorpion could also fulfill a Tanker role for aircraft or unmanned vehicles.

Textron spokeswoman Sylvia Pierson also noted that its Scorpion jet has the payload and ground clearance necessary to use it for tanking missions. However, “we have not yet received any customer requirements to integrate and demonstrate this capability,” she said.

Source:
DefenseNews.com

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8 years

Posts: 1,168

The whole point of a light attack aircraft is to simplify things and have something less expensive to store, maintain and fly. Sure this Scorpion thing is cool looking and probably goes like hell. But thats not the point.

Watch the Scorpion win. Then we will read about cost overruns, technical issues and pilot training issues.