The same aircraft, now operated by Sierra Nevada Corp., has also been used as the demonstrator for the Air Force’s separate Light Air Support program, aimed at equipping the fledgling Afghan air force. Imminent Fury used an A-29B (now an official Pentagon designation for the Embraer EMB-314B Super Tucano) borrowed from the company then named Blackwater Worldwide. Observers say that if an Air Force AC-130 Specter gunship on the scene had been able to stay on target and relay sensor intelligence and deliver precision munitions, the outcome of the battle might have been more favorable for the U.S. service members were killed and many wounded. This requirement may have its origins in the March 2002 Battle of Takur Ghar, also called the Battle of Roberts Ridge – a part of the larger Operation Anaconda – in which eight U.S.
Photo by Gary Mailander/High Sierra Spotters The key to the concept is an inexpensive, simple, nimble combat aircraft capable of long loiter and on-call reconnaissance and attack duty, able to operate from austere airfields under primitive conditions and to deliver precision ordnance and employ state-of-the-art technology including electro-optical and infrared sensors, laser-guided munitions (the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II), and encrypted radios and night-vision gear.Īnother view of the two OV-10G+ Broncos being tested as part of the Combat Dragon II program. Today, CENTCOM‘s Science and Technology Division is running the LOE in cooperation with SOCOM. Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March 2010 that using a robust, complex aircraft like an F-15E Strike Eagle to support troops patrolling rural villages “amounts to overkill.” According to a source, the current Combat Dragon II effort is purposely kept low-profile, but basic facts about it are not classified.Ĭongress tried to kill Combat Dragon II 18 months ago.
The program enjoyed strong support from Marine Corps Gen. Stanley McChrystal – and has been through on-again, off-again incarnations. The Combat Dragon requirement for a light armed warplane for use in Afghanistan originated with the combatant commander there – at the time, Gen. The experiment seeks similar information as Imminent Fury, which used a leased A-29B Super Tucano.
The Combat Dragon II program, a Limited Objective Experiment (LOE), is aimed at demonstrating that a small, turboprop-powered warplane can be effective in “high end/special aviation” missions of the kind encountered in Afghanistan. special operations community has been quietly evaluating two North American OV-10G+ Bronco light combat aircraft at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev., and at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.
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