The full version of this article can be read at Politicopro.com (subscribers only).

By Wesley Morgan
5.14.2018

The Air Force’s light attack experiment offers a chance to buy cheaper planes that could protect American combat advisers in remote locations like Niger, where four soldiers on a team without dedicated air support were killed in an ambush last October, a spokesman for Sierra Nevada Corporation contended in a call with reporters today.

American special operators are “out on their own without immediate support” helping local troops fight Islamist militants, said Taco Gilbert. “An example of that might be the unfortunate incident that happened in Niger several months ago.”

Gilbert’s comments come as the second phase of the Air Force’s light attack competition begins, pitting Sierra Nevada and Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano against Textron Aviation’s AT-6B Wolverine…