DnalweN acilbupeR wrote:Why would they need extra training if they've already trained on small turboprops (which every pilot trains on) and are trained to operate a common targeting pod?
Also, Super Tucano ftw
EDIT: Also, see the AT-802U. It's about as OTS as it gets ; so there's almost no development except for adding armor and weapons, and being a highly popular commercial plane, there should be plenty of engineers, pilots, maintenance crews, spare parts, etc. around) ; applies for other highly popular civilian craft too. IMO COIN is a field where purpose-designing an aircraft for it offers negligible or no benefits over OTS in terms of performance and effectiveness, and clear disadvantages because of development and production costs, logistics, etc.
It doesn't matter how many of those aircraft are being used in the civilian sector. How many of those repair crews are actually
in the military? How many parts has the government already stockpiled?
If the answer to either of those questions is "none" or "not too many" then you're still in the same boat. It just isn't worth buying all of these planes, going through all of the trouble of testing and qualifying them, certifying pilots and crews, certifying weapons and avionics, all for a niche war like the one Radicchio's fighting.
While yes, the US Army bought MRAPs for Iraq, the USAF didn't buy new specialized COIN aircraft, they just used what they already had and what they were already going to buy, since introducing a new aircraft for a single war has questionable economic benefit. The money for it has to come out of other programs, meaning cutting back on the actual warfighting capability.
The Army's MRAP situation is a pretty good example: now they have to figure out what to do with a host of vehicles that aren't good for just about anything else, which is why they're dumping them on police departments (and not getting anything close to a reimbursement for them, so it's still a big loss for the budget).
Purpose-designing an aircraft for COIN usually isn't necessary, but neither is buying an entirely new airframe when you already have low-cost trainers in large numbers available that are already fitted for the weapons and avionics, and already have pilots and equipment available. The BAe Hawk alone has sold much better than the AT-802 to governments. Once you're done with the war you just transfer the trainers back to the training reserves, whereas if you bought a bunch of agricultural planes, they wouldn't be useful for much at all and would get stuck in the boneyard. The trainer requires even fewer modifications for use than a civilian plane.
DnalweN acilbupeR wrote:>Take highly versatile plane which can have myriad other uses incl. of government interest (e.g. firefighting) and that is already a highly successful civilian aircraft
>Equip it with already existing targeting and navigation pods
>Equip it with already existing weapons pods
>Use pilots already used to flying small turboprop aircraft, because everyone has in training
>Use a supply chain that already exists and is highly developed for the civilian and government markets
>Rugged, reliable, low-maintenance, simple - proven commercially successful agricultural workhorse
>????
>PROFIT
As odd as this may seem, most civilian aircraft aren't designed to equip FLIR, laser rangefinders, laser designators, datalinks, or to support smart ordnance. And civilian pilots experienced flying these aircraft are, well, civilians, and having them fly military sorties is a violation of all sorts of conventions. Unless you draft them, but now you've started pushing up your personnel costs again. Where again to you plan to mount the interfaces given that your entire cockpit is already taken up with dials and gauges?
The modifications AT made to the AT-802U breaks component compatibility in a number of cases, since it uses strengthened parts to support the greater weight. And notice how most of the aircraft entered into the LAAT competition were themselves either modified trainers with proven military service records (Texan, Super Tucano, Master) or actual military aircraft that had served in combat (OV-10).