AF Light Air Support Aircraft

[ClearedHot]

4 hours ago, Hacker said:

The people with those concerns should have been laughed out of the room.

Buy a couple of Super Cubs, Decathlons, or any number of GA airplanes, and teach people to fly taildraggers. It is done every day with low-time GA pilots in a couple hours.

It came straight form the mouth of the then AFSOC Commander who was by trade a Pavelow guy. 

2 hours ago, Clark Griswold said:

From the article 

Exactly how and where the OA-1K might be used in an operational context remains to be seen, especially as the focus of the current Trump administration seems to be much less on Africa and other areas of lower-intensity conflict.
 

This is the conundrum.  Can you have a cheap(er) manned platform that has some relevance to supporting the Big Fights but can prosecute the Small Fights on its own?

Rhetorical question and I won’t plug the Scorpion for the umpteenth time but this is how to get a light strike bought in numbers.

Why do folks think this can't be used in the big fight against China?  I can think of 69 missions it can do in that fight.  During the recent Special Air Warfare Symposium the current AFSOC Commander mentioned putting Small Cruise Missiles on them.  Pop up out of a dirt strip on an off axis and dramatically complicate the calculus of the Chinese.  Also, the Taiwan scenario will include operations on the periphery that will have a big impact on the fight.  There are 10,000+ little islands between the PI, Indonesia and Vietnam...

[Hacker]

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

It came straight form the mouth of the then AFSOC Commander who was by trade a Pavelow guy.

Then it would have been even more funny to show him in a fancy curated PowerPoint presentation that GA guys with 4 hours of training can figure out how to fly a taildragger safely. That isn't even a fraction as complicated or challenging of a skill to learn as formation flying or even hovering a helicopter.

Even a rotorhead could do it.

Edited Friday at 05:07 PM by Hacker

[Clark Griswold]

2 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Why do folks think this can;t be used in the big fight against China?  I can think of 69 missions it can do in that fight.  During the recent Special Air Warfare Symposium the current AFSOC Commander mentioned putting Small Cruise Missiles on them.  Pop up out of a dirt strip on an off axis and dramatically complicate the calculus of the Chinese.  Also, the Taiwan scenario will include operations on the periphery that will have a big impact on the fight.  There are 10,000+ little islands between the PI, Indonesia and Vietnam...

Institutional bias, pride and the misperception that it detracts from the prestige of the Air Force.

Not my opinion but what I think certain GOs think when they see these aircraft.

Been listening to this series of pods during my commutes and I would recommend this episode 

https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1500955155?i=1000702238181

Other episodes I didn’t make it thru but this one was interesting and had comparison and insight on the offerings, Piertrucha didn’t think much of the Scorpion but whatevs.  In this pod though they make mention that Goldfien while CSAF didn’t think much of it and paraphrasing from the pod, “Other people fly turboprops not us”.

Not my opinion again but that’s what I think the top dogs in the USAF think, that it is beneath us.

As to your point of the multitude of missions it (a light platform) could do, no disagreement, my two cents looking at this from the outside for years is that it has to be sold as a family of systems (intentional buzz phrase use) to get attention and serious consideration.

Light platform + CCA / UAS + ACE mission / capabilities + Network Warfare + EW capabilities 

Basically you are cutting off the naysayers by showing it’s not just a cheap way to deliver a Hellfire or SDB to Hilux carrying jihadis but it is that plus these other capes that we see now in the spectrum of conflict(s)… drone killer, weapons truck, sensor node, CCA quarterback, light austere capable mobility platform, etc…

Getting several companies to come together and offer it might inspire more interest and confidence in the idea

[viper154]

9 hours ago, Hacker said:

The people with those concerns should have been laughed out of the room.

Buy a couple of Super Cubs, Decathlons, or any number of GA airplanes, and teach people to fly taildraggers. It is done every day with low-time GA pilots in a couple hours.

Well yes, the concern wasn’t that the pilots would have trouble with some training. It was that there was no plan, except to stick them in a shiny new multi million dollar 16,000lb turbo prop tail wheel with all the toys instead of spending a couple extra bucks to send them to get a couple hours in a light civ tail wheel to get the basics. 
 

Hopefully that’s changed, I’ve been out of the loop for awhile. 

[Clark Griswold]

Not sure if the Caldius B-350 would count as light but if we are discussing platforms that can do the armed overwatch mission and be relevant for the INDOPACOM theater, bigger seems better sts

Payload, fuel and size to accommodate larger stand off weapons, podded sensors, etc…

I don’t think it went past the airshow mockup but an aircraft this size is probably where the SOF and MCO communities could meet in the middle and get a common platform for both mission sets, they do overlap.

 

Enough for everyone’s gear to fit, enough power to carry enough to be relevant, enough range to be back from the fight but capable of operating in small fields to support the big fight.  
As it never flew, it’s just a WAG but a combat radius of 450 NM with probably 2+ hours on station, it easily covers the naval passages south of the PI to Northern Australia, probably 2000 NM ferry range, self deploy but rugged & cheap enough to operate in detachment in AFRICOM for continuous operations there.

[Pooter]

1 hour ago, Clark Griswold said:

Not sure if the Caldius B-350 would count as light but if we are discussing platforms that can do the armed overwatch mission and be relevant for the INDOPACOM theater, bigger seems better sts

Payload, fuel and size to accommodate larger stand off weapons, podded sensors, etc…

I don’t think it went past the airshow mockup but an aircraft this size is probably where the SOF and MCO communities could meet in the middle and get a common platform for both mission sets, they do overlap.

 

Enough for everyone’s gear to fit, enough power to carry enough to be relevant, enough range to be back from the fight but capable of operating in small fields to support the big fight.  
As it never flew, it’s just a WAG but a combat radius of 450 NM with probably 2+ hours on station, it easily covers the naval passages south of the PI to Northern Australia, probably 2000 NM ferry range, self deploy but rugged & cheap enough to operate in detachment in AFRICOM for continuous operations there.

[arg]

On 4/11/2025 at 9:23 AM, ClearedHot said:

It came straight form the mouth of the then AFSOC Commander who was by trade a Pavelow guy. 

Why do folks think this can't be used in the big fight against China?  I can think of 69 missions it can do in that fight.  During the recent Special Air Warfare Symposium the current AFSOC Commander mentioned putting Small Cruise Missiles on them.  Pop up out of a dirt strip on an off axis and dramatically complicate the calculus of the Chinese.  Also, the Taiwan scenario will include operations on the periphery that will have a big impact on the fight.  There are 10,000+ little islands between the PI, Indonesia and Vietnam...

The big question is, will leadership know how to use it?

[SurelySerious]

The big question is, will leadership know how to use it?

The Navy will be involved since it’s INDOPACOM territory sooooooo