USAF Forges Ahead with Light Combat Aircraft Programme

[GOOSE]

A new COIN aircraft?

From hmforces.co.uk -

The initial funding instalment, of an eventual $2 billion to purchase 100 Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft, has been received by the US Air Force, for asymmetric operations like those being carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan. LAAR is required to become operational in 2013, one year after initial deliveries start. The chosen type may be a propeller-driven aircraft, but whichever type is selected will be fitted with hardpoints for light support weapons and will carry a targeting pod, making it capable of independently engaging targets. Possible contenders include the AirTractor AT802U (a modified crop duster), Alenia Aermacchi M-346, Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, Hawker Beechcraft AT-6L and Pilatus PC-6 Porter. Boeing’s OV-10(X) Bronco proposal, based on the twin-engine, twin-boom forward air controller of the Vietnam era—for which no production facility has even been chosen—now appears an unlikely candidate.

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