Profile of Sky Warden Air Tractor AT-802 – US Special Operations Command's COIN Turboprop Aircraft of Choice

COIN (Counter Insurgency) aircraft with turborop engines are in fact not only in demand in developing countries. As evidence, the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has selected L3Harris Technologies and Air Tractor to supply 75 cropduster attack aircraft in a deal worth US$3 billion.

It's a big win for the sixth-largest defense contractor in the US. While the aircraft used by L3Harris is an armed Air Tractor AT-802. Quoted from Defenseone.com (1/8/2022), the initial contract awarded last Monday was worth US $ 170 million, but will reach US $ 3 billion by 2029 if all options are exercised.

“The aim of this acquisition is to acquire a low-cost, reliable, robust, multi-role, small to medium-sized aircraft system with the full range of capabilities currently available by other platforms, such as close air strike support, precision strike, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," SOCOM said in a statement.

L3Harris said, that SOCOM will start testing the plane called Sky Warden this year. To that end, the company plans to add 100 employees to build aircraft at its 90,000-square-foot plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

SOCOM's choice of the Sky Warden Air Tractor AT-802 was a huge loss for Textrons Beechcraft, which has spent millions of dollars over the past decade developing an attack version of its T-6 trainer (Textron AT-6E Wolverine) that has yet to be sold in large numbers. The Sky Warden was also chosen over the MC-145B offered by Sierra Nevada.

Although the design feels old school with a tail wheel in the style of a P-51 Mustang, the Air Tractor AT-802 is actually a new aircraft, because the aircraft made by Air Tractor Inc, Texas, United States of America, only flew for the first time in October 1990.

However, something has changed from the AT-802 since 2008, after the US Air Force released the Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) program, this aircraft was transformed as a version of the AT-802U armed and equipped with various sensing sensors.

The AT-802U then received a number of changes, notably to increase its resistance to small arms fire and the installation of a sensor system to identify targets. The cockpit and around the fuel tank received the addition of a strong armor plate to withstand the impact of 7.62 mm bullets. 

To locate targets on the ground, the AT-802U is equipped with an IOMAX Flexible Pod mounted on the center pylon with an optical/infra red L3/MX-15 Wescam sensor. These sensors are used to guide smart bombs.

The AT-802U can carry 4 tons of weapons in the remaining 8 pylons, although its landing gear is designed to withstand a payload of up to 7 tons. If the TNI AU's Super Tucano is only equipped with two 12.7 mm Heavy Machine Guns (SMB), FFAR rocket tubes or Mk81/82 dumb bombs, the AT-802U carries a load of advanced weapons that are usually only intended for jet fighters. The list includes the Turkish-made CIRIT smart rocket and the 2.75 DAGR, the Paveway II laser bomb, or the AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missile.