Defense Tech: Mattis Still Supports Light COIN Plane Air Force Wants Dead

[unhappycamper]

Mattis Still Supports Light COIN Plane Air Force Wants Dead

At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week, newly nominated Central Command head Gen. James Mattis reaffirmed his support for a turboprop aircraft to provide ground pounders with long loitering time, on-call recon and strike. The project called “Imminent Fury” was run out of the Navy’s irregular warfare office.

Mattis described it as a test program to see if inexpensive turboprops could replace the much more costly jets currently used in counterinsurgency battles. As we’ve described it before, the sought after design falls somewhere between the Vietnam era OV-10 Bronco and A-1 Skyraider.

While the Navy’s request for additional funds for the program was recently denied, Mattis said he’s still trying to build support for the concept, to at least gather data that could inform future spending decisions.

He’s going to have his work cut out for him as sources from the Navy’s irregular warfare community recently told Defense Tech the program is as dead as Julius Caesar. Who killed it? The Air Force, we’re told, and its powerful fighter community, which was not at all interested in sticking their pilots in a low and slow ground support aircraft. The Air Force is still having trouble choking down the “drone driver” mission.

As we wrote a couple of months ago, Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, shot down his own idea for an irregular warfare wing, arguing that the current, and future, inventory of jet aircraft can perform any and all close air support missions that a new, light strike fighter could. He could not envision replacing existing F-15, F-16 and A-10, or future F-35s for that matter, with a light strike aircraft.

[Bosso 63]

1. It looks a lot more useful than hanger queens like the F-22.

[unhappycamper]

2. Broncos and Spads were the kickass aircraft of the Vietnam war.

I was lucky enough to back seat in a Bronco recon run over the Michelin Plantation south of Núi Bà Đen.

[Bosso 63]

4. I like your posts and I want to thank you for your service.

I have never been in a situation where anyone was seriously trying to kill me, and I consider my self very fortunate in that respect. Needless to say, I am not a expert on military expenditures, but it pisses me off when I see that we will pay for 13 aircraft carriers and their supporting ships, but we have a hard time finding the funding for effective body armor for Marines. It also makes me mad that we will pay 200 million dollars for fighters we don't use, but we can't find 30 thousand dollars to pay for a para teacher to help the special needs kids at my local school.

[yella_dawg]

3. Kites.

Big fuckin' kites. It's all we can afford now.