Originally Posted by
Mox Nix
Huh? AT-6B?? Hadn't even heard anything about it. When did this come about? And what's its mission?
The Air Guard has purchased 1 of these which should be delivered in FY09. Not sure why the guard, but if you go to Beechcraft's website, they tell all about it. Basically, it is a combination RECCE/Light Attack aircraft with up to 6 hard points for various smaller munitions. Specifically designed to help with COIN (Counter-insurgency) ops utilizing net-centric principles. Makes total sense to me. After all, the USAF is wasting flight hours and airframe time on fighters that were not meant to loiter waiting for Achmed to plant his roadside bomb. Why keep burning up 16s and 15Es when a T-6 with some armor and hardpoints can do the same job, perhaps even more effectively, for less money.
Now, true, just about all of this can be done via a predator, but perhaps they are finding that there are some human factors limitations (communications, visual, who knows) with the predators which facilitate still having a person up in the sky. Don't know if they'd let a heavy guy like me fly it, but honestly, some of the coolest stories I've read have been of guys who years ago flew the same type of missions helping out the grunts in A-1 skyraiders and A-37s.
Plus, it seems like a good mix of cost/effectiveness for COIN ops which is something we are not only involved in for OEF and OIF but also will be even more involved in over in Africa for the foreseeable future.