This article can be read on FlightGlobal.com.
By Garrett Reim
March 13, 2018
Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson may ask Congress to reallocate funds to the light-attack aircraft programme this year, a move which would accelerate the department’s purchase of the aircraft by one year to 2019.
Funding for procurement of the light-attack aircraft is currently slated to begin in fiscal year 2020 and there is about $2.5 billion budgeted over the next five years for the programme, according to the Air Force. The possible reallocation of funds was first reported by Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Two aircraft are finalists for the light-attack aircraft, or OA-X, programme: Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine and Sierra Nevada/Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano.
Last July, the USAF staged the OA-X experiment at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Several aircraft, including the A-29 and AT-6, demonstrated how they could perform the light air support mission, which includes light attack and training functions. The USAF has scheduled a follow-up OA-X experiment this summer at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, (EDITOR’S NOTE: USAF has since moved the location to Holloman Air Force Base) and invited only the A-29 and AT-6 to participate.
The USAF already purchased 26 Sierra Nevada/Embraer A-29 Super Tucanos as part of a separate programme to equip the Afghan Air Force.