USAF Is Buying Turboprop Light Attack Aircraft: Here's Why

The most technologically advanced air force in the world just completed an order for a limited number of turboprop aircraft, says a report by Janes.

The U.S. Air Force has been testing light attack aircraft, primarily the Super Tucano manufactured by Sierra Nevada Corporation and the Textron Aviation at-6B Wolverine. It may sound odd that the Air Force, which operates the most advanced combat aircraft in the world, has ordered lumbering turboprops, whose golden era in combat is already fading from human memory.

But this experiment is aimed at making these non-jet-powered light attack aircraft a go-to for countries, such as Afghanistan and Peru, where the United States has stationed military advisers.

Light attack aircraft are much more nimble and easily hidden. Their platforms are also more versatile, allowing for the ordnance to be loaded that may or may not be of an American variety. This will enable countries to utilize the aircraft and the ordnance that they can obtain themselves but be trained by the American military in tactics and maintenance. They also can operate without support from the sophisticated facilities and training needed to maintain modern advanced war jets.

This program is not new and not a secret one. It began as far back as 2011 when 20 of the aircraft were ordered to supplement the fledgling Afghanistan Air Force. Their crews and maintenance technicians, as well as their pilots, were sent to the United States to train on aircraft maintenance and combat.

The 81st Fighter Wing was reactivated at Moody Air Force Base in Florida, which also happens to be where Sierra Nevada aircraft is headquartered. The foreign aircrews were trained in combat maintenance practices for their planes. The crews then returned to Afghanistan as well as the aircraft that transitioned completed by the end of 2018. At last count, they had flown almost two thousand successful sorties in conditions that were less than hospitable for newer, more technologically advanced aircraft.

The current phase of the experiment is focusing on the Air Force Special Operations Command that has procured three more of each aircraft for their further testing. The objective for the program is to locate and produce to the best plane they can that will be handed off to these nations, and their crews can be trained by American aircrews who go over there as advisers.

The training itself will not take place at Moody as that was just a temporary solution; however, the Air Force will continue to advise on the program, including first future procurements of large orders of the aircraft.