Earlier this year the United States Special Operations Command selected the L3 Harris AT-802U Sky Warden as their new Armed Overwatch aircraft. It has now been designated as the OA-1K. Aircraft officianados will recognize the OA designation which identifies the combined Observation Attack role.
The decision to reuse model 1 is an odd choice considering 7 is the next number in line for Observation aircraft and 14 is next up for Attack aircraft. It seems that they are attempting to assert some sort of SOF aviation heritage on this completely new airframe by reusing the model 1 designation shared with the Skyraider and assigning variant K to the Sky Warden.
Thousands of Douglas A-1E, A-1H and A-1J Skyraiders were operated by the US from 1946-1973 with significant service in AFSOC’s forebears, the Air Commandos, during the Vietnam War.
The Armed Overwatch program provides SOF with dedicated Close Air Support, precision strike, and airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) from austere locations in a permissive environment.
USSOCOM plans to procure 75 OA-1Ks and form then into four operational squadrons of 15 aircraft each and an additional 15 for use in training. Special Operations Squadrons operating U-28 Drago and MC-12W Liberty will replace their aircraft with OA-1Ks. However, AFSOC plans to keep some Dragos in service.
Since the Air Force has decided to early-retire the F-22’s, there should be a bunch of pilots available. Should be interesting to watch a disgruntled Raptor pilot get checked out on a high-torque tail dragger!
These will all be in service long before the F-22 is phased out in the next decade. One of the selling points of this aircraft is its based off a COTS plane that is inexpensive and easy to procure.
“AFSOC plans call for commencing OA-1K flight training in the fall of 2025.”
“Thanks to the dynamic, low-altitude character of the armed overwatch mission and the challenge of flying the airplane, there’s a good chance that OA-1K flight crew billets will be highly sought after. Lt. Gen. Slife observed that AFSOC U-28 and MC-12 units will transition to the armed overwatch platform during this decade. “It will largely be internal unit transitions,” Slife added.
The Air Force expects the OA-1K fleet to be fully operational in 2029.”
All of the U-28s aren’t going away. There will still be a requirement for a lot of new pilots.
If indeed the the AF is able to close a few A-10 squadrons those pilots would likely rather fly an A-1 than an F-35 that their squadrons would likely be converting to. They already have the close relationships with SOF and they are the CAS experts. I retired from an A-10 unit and many of the Hawg pilots I know will retire or quit before switching to Vipers or Fat Amy’s. This may be an enticing option to stick around.