A new fighter aircraft for a new kind of war

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Low intensity war and urban warfare are only two of the names given to the new military conflicts that are being encountered these days. And a new type of war requires a new type of fighter aircraft.

Two American companies according to Aviation Week, formed a joint venture between Textron and a young company—AirLand Enterprises, formed in 2011 have exactly that goal.

Textron is best known for its Cessna business jets and turboprops, as well as Bell Helicopter’s long experience with rotorcraft. Its partner, AirLand, however, was formed by a small group of investors, including retired defense officials, with the goal of developing new concepts for a light attack.

It could actually be the scarce funding environment that validates the strategy behind the joint venture’s new aircraft—the two-seat, twin-engine Scorpion.

The Scorpion demonstration is intended to whet the U.S. Air Force’s appetite with the promise of a low procurement and operating cost. The pitch for this aircraft, which is optimized for 5-hr. endurance with onboard intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) collectors and weapons, is to handle the Air Force’s low-end missions such as U.S. based interdiction, quick-reaction natural disaster support and air sovereignty patrols.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The goal is to field an aircraft capable of operating for less than $3,000 per flying hour; the company declined to cite a target unit cost. By contrast, the Pentagon in June cited the cost per flying hour of the F-16, which currently performs many of these missions, as $24,899.

In Afghanistan and Iraq, F-15s, F-16s and A-10s have been used for patrols and close air support in completely uncontested airspace. This was overkill, according to some military officials. Built for high-speed, high-G maneuvers, these aircraft made little use of their strengths in these conflicts, but were needed to drop ordinance and provide armed overwatch for ground troops.

“The military is very focused right now on that very high-end capability,” says Textron CEO Scott Donnelly, noting the attention on developing and buying the F-35 as a replacement for most Air Force combat aircraft. “There is a market space right now. . . . One of the challenges we have today in the Defense Department is we see budgets coming down [and] that is exactly why this is the right time to do this.”