Textron competitor touts its attack plane in Air Force experiment

An executive of the Nevada-based company fielding Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano in the Air Force’s light-attack experiment said the airplane should perform well in the evaluation that pits it against Textron Aviation’s Scorpion jet and AT-6 Wolverine.

“We are hopeful it will be a very comprehensive, thorough evaluation,” Taco Gilbert, senior vice president for Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance business, said on a conference call to update reporters about the A-29 and its role in the evaluation dubbed “OA-X.”

Gilbert said the airplane has wracked up 40,000 combat hours operating in places such as Afghanistan, and the harsher the environment, “the better the A-29 looks.”

The Air Force evaluation could lead to aircraft orders for one of the participants, and that could be good for Textron Aviation as well as jobs at the company, which is one of Wichita’s largest employers.

The Senate Armed Services Committee earmarked $1.2 billion for the Air Force to purchase light-attack/observation aircraft in its budget recommendations for the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, though the panel doesn’t have the authority to spend the money.

It’s the second time the Wichita-built AT-6 and the A-29, manufactured at Embraer Defense & Security’s Jacksonville, Fla., plant, have gone head to head in a government contest.

Sierra Nevada and then-Beechcraft were locked in a three-year battle over an Air Force contract for 20 planes for use in Afghanistan by the Afghan military that was worth more than $427 million – and potentially $1 billion for follow-up orders. Sierra Nevada ultimately prevailed in the contract dispute when the Government Accountability Office ruled in its favor in 2013. Beechcraft, which was later acquired by Textron, protested the contract award on the basis that the A-29 was more expensive and a less capable, foreign-manufactured airplane than the AT-6.

Sierra Nevada already has its A-29 demonstrator at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Gilbert said, where the Air Force is conducting the four- to six-week experiment. For the first time, the Air Force is looking at the possibility of using less-costly military aircraft already in production to fulfill its missions. In the case of OA-X, it’s looking specifically for aircraft that can perform surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and close air support to ground troops.

Gilbert said instructors from Sierra Nevada will spend the next couple of weeks training Air Force pilots and weapons systems officers on the A-29 before the experiment begins on July 31.

The experiment will include basic aircraft handling, tactical and aerobatic maneuvers, flying in aircraft formations, flying with use of night vision goggles and related equipment, and use of weapons.

“We have been told the Air Force will build up the munitions and provide them,” Gilbert said.

The munitions the OA-X aircraft could use include rockets and precision and nonprecision bombs, he said.

Gilbert said he’s not certain what happens once the Air Force completes the experiment, which is expected at the end of September.

The results could go in a report that the Air Force doesn’t act on, he said, or it could lead to competition for a contract between the A-29, AT-6 and the Scorpion.

“We don’t know,” he said. “(But) we’re pleased to be a part of the experiment, to showcase the airplane.”

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 7:19 AM with the headline "Textron competitor touts its attack plane in Air Force experiment."