Textron Scorpion Light Attack/ISR jet
 

I had a chance to crawl around in/on one today and talk to the Chief test pilot.
Since I'm not computer savvy enough to post the few poor cell phone pictures I took - I'll link an AOPA video from the Textron Scorpion website that shows the airplane off and there are other videos and other links on the web page about the capabilities of the aircraft.

https://scorpion.txtav.com/en/logbook/s ... B01D2911AE

SOCOM finally got tired of the USAF stalling and is doing their own light attack (aka armed overwatch) procurement using OTA.

It might even eventually include a high/low mix, in which case scorpion could be one of the high contenders.

Anyone on active duty now will quite possibly retire and die before the USAF procurement system actually fields a new weapon system Started today. They have been working the follow-on tanker to the KC-135 since the late 60s and it’s still a fustercluck.

Let's not forget acquiring the B-21, re-engining the B-52 and acquiring the new LRSO missile. All needed IMHO but a lot of taxpayer dollars nonetheless.

SOCOM has money until you start talking airplanes, then they are just full of 💩. They have their own acquisitions process, but a long track record of being unable to make significant acquisitions that involve airplanes. It’s one thing to buy better rifles than big Army is willing to buy, its another to plunk down the billions involved in putting bombs on target.

Can't argue. They haven't done so hot with mini-subs either but they appear to have learned their lessons on that (long and painful). Hopefully they can apply some of that to aviation. I'd certainly like to see them break the USAF's hold on CAS, since they only seem interested in stealthy, supersonic, hyper-expensive fighters which stay high enough to keep the mud off their ascots.

Not sure what you mean by the USAF’s hold on CAS rickair.

Yes, the A-10 is really stealthy and supersonic, and stays high enough to keep the mud off their ascots.🥴 But those are some really nice ascots! Sometimes we even call them dickies.....

And they only still operate it because congress keeps shoving it up their you-know-what. I've literally lost count of how many times the AF has tried to poop-can that thing.

Meant fixed-wing CAS. USAF is the dog in the manger.

Obviously DoN/USMC has retained our own organic CAS all along, so it's more of an issue for USA and SOCOM. But even so, F-35B's are going to be in much more play for diverse ATO tasking than harriers.

Although in joint ops, it's easy enough for Marines to find themselves in need of CAS which the USAF doesn't want to provide.

Yeah, yeah F-16's and strike eagles can do that... but good luck getting enough of that allocated during a near-peer fight.

For low-intensity, low-cost support, even the A-10 might be a bit much. SOCOM's experiment should be interesting and informative.