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E. Spengler
Basically, they can, just not for $700.
bigun
Red Skull
New Skyraider II 'Swiss Army Knife' Joins AFSOC Fleet
The OA-1K Skyraider II joins AFSOC, a versatile close air support aircraft with advanced weaponry.
redstate.com
New Skyraider II 'Swiss Army Knife' Joins AFSOC Fleet
In recent weeks, in the skies over Iran, we saw the value of high-tech as a force multiplier. American stealth aircraft and smart weapons dealt staggering damage to Iran's armed forces, to the point that all they have left are a few boats that are essentially water skiing speedboats with machine guns, and a few hundred goblins with AK-47s.
Low-tech played a significant part in this, too. Once air dominance over Iran was established, which took the USA and Israel about six minutes, our A-10 and B-52s were operating with impunity in Iranian airspace, doing what they do best: Dealing with a problem by the suitable application of high explosives.
Speaking of low-tech, the United States Air Force has now taken possession of 18 of their latest low-and-slow close air support birds: The OA-1K Skyraider II.
The new plane is named in honor of the A-1 Skyraider of Vietnam fame, also an aircraft that performed beyond anyone's expectations.
The new aircraft, as I wrote back when it was first introduced, is the product of good old American ingenuity, in which someone said, "Hey, what would happen if we stuck guns and rocket pods on a cropduster?"
Low tech is all right. Low and slow, when it comes to close air support, is downright essential. And the Skyraider II is so good at this, that the primary gunsight appears to be an over-the-counter item you can pick up at any gun shop.
It looks like, despite asking for 75 of these, the Air Force will only be getting 53.
The face of warfare is constantly changing. High-tech is great, yes, especially if the United States ever gets embroiled in a near-peer conflict. What the Skyraider II shows us, though, is that there's still a place in the inventory for something like this: An aircraft that already existed, was already adept at flying low, slow, and making sharp maneuvers; that is, in case you weren't aware of it, primarily what crop-dusters do. All we had to do was arm it.
In World War II, the Soviet Union strapped machine guns and light bombs onto Polikarpov Po-2 biplane trainers. These aircraft, known to their crews as Kukuruzniks - Wheatcutters - and they had seen pre-war use as not only trainers but, you guessed it, crop-dusters. Armed and flying by night, these things made the German troops in Russia maladjusted; their pilots, mostly women, would do things like switch off the engine, glide silently into where a German unit was laagered, and light them up with machine-gun fire before buzzing away at treetop level. If one encountered a German Messerschmitt, one could shake off the much faster German fighter by going into a tight circle that the German pilot couldn't match.
There's a place in war for these kinds of things. The new OA-1k is something that a Kukuruznik pilot would have looked at with envy.
bigun
Red Skull
I remember reading an article that the author wondered why the AF didn't replace the radial engine in the SkyRaider with a turbine, back in the 70s
Last edited:
SomeGuyFromOlympia
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That is an Air Tractor
bigun
Red Skull
Yes, says it right in the article that it was the base they used
Norm
Newb
New Skyraider II 'Swiss Army Knife' Joins AFSOC Fleet
The OA-1K Skyraider II joins AFSOC, a versatile close air support aircraft with advanced weaponry.New Skyraider II 'Swiss Army Knife' Joins AFSOC Fleet
The OA-1K Skyraider II. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
In recent weeks, in the skies over Iran, we saw the value of high-tech as a force multiplier. American stealth aircraft and smart weapons dealt staggering damage to Iran's armed forces, to the point that all they have left are a few boats that are essentially water skiing speedboats with machine guns, and a few hundred goblins with AK-47s.
Low-tech played a significant part in this, too. Once air dominance over Iran was established, which took the USA and Israel about six minutes, our A-10 and B-52s were operating with impunity in Iranian airspace, doing what they do best: Dealing with a problem by the suitable application of high explosives.
Speaking of low-tech, the United States Air Force has now taken possession of 18 of their latest low-and-slow close air support birds: The OA-1K Skyraider II.
The new plane is named in honor of the A-1 Skyraider of Vietnam fame, also an aircraft that performed beyond anyone's expectations.
The new aircraft, as I wrote back when it was first introduced, is the product of good old American ingenuity, in which someone said, "Hey, what would happen if we stuck guns and rocket pods on a cropduster?"
Low tech is all right. Low and slow, when it comes to close air support, is downright essential. And the Skyraider II is so good at this, that the primary gunsight appears to be an over-the-counter item you can pick up at any gun shop.
It looks like, despite asking for 75 of these, the Air Force will only be getting 53.
The face of warfare is constantly changing. High-tech is great, yes, especially if the United States ever gets embroiled in a near-peer conflict. What the Skyraider II shows us, though, is that there's still a place in the inventory for something like this: An aircraft that already existed, was already adept at flying low, slow, and making sharp maneuvers; that is, in case you weren't aware of it, primarily what crop-dusters do. All we had to do was arm it.
In World War II, the Soviet Union strapped machine guns and light bombs onto Polikarpov Po-2 biplane trainers. These aircraft, known to their crews as Kukuruzniks - Wheatcutters - and they had seen pre-war use as not only trainers but, you guessed it, crop-dusters. Armed and flying by night, these things made the German troops in Russia maladjusted; their pilots, mostly women, would do things like switch off the engine, glide silently into where a German unit was laagered, and light them up with machine-gun fire before buzzing away at treetop level. If one encountered a German Messerschmitt, one could shake off the much faster German fighter by going into a tight circle that the German pilot couldn't match.
There's a place in war for these kinds of things. The new OA-1k is something that a Kukuruznik pilot would have looked at with envy.
I don't know if you can call those things low tech just because the airframe is slow and turbo prop.
Them things got all the isr gear.
The ten percent true podcast had a 3 part series with one of the test pilots for that program.
6869704x4
Red Skull
This one? I flew with Walker on gunships back in the day.
www.10percenttrue.com
The OA-1K Skyraider II: Revolutionizing Armed Overwatch
The OA-1K Skyraider II is SOCOM’s new Armed Overwatch aircraft, designed to support Special Operations Forces in remote, austere environments. Built on the rugged AT-802 airframe, it combines advanced sensors, precision weapons, and long endurance to collapse the traditional airpower stack into...
www.10percenttrue.com
Yeah.This one? I flew with Walker on gunships back in the day.
The OA-1K Skyraider II: Revolutionizing Armed Overwatch
The OA-1K Skyraider II is SOCOM’s new Armed Overwatch aircraft, designed to support Special Operations Forces in remote, austere environments. Built on the rugged AT-802 airframe, it combines advanced sensors, precision weapons, and long endurance to collapse the traditional airpower stack into...
It seems like they packed every modern sensor and communications equipment in the inventory into a crop duster.
350TacoZilla
Well-known member
They maxed the starter weapon in a RPG game.
arse_sidewards
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Reading that article what really bugs me is that this is exactly the kind of thing where they'll just take the missiles off and give a bunch to every police agency.
Predators would be cheaper for dhs to run and i have no doubt they're already using them.
The new sky raider is because predators don't have a human in them to coordinate with troops on the ground real time. It also has a full c2 comms suite to uplink everyone in theater to the larger battle net.
Rerock
Well-known member
So that's what the bottom percentile of graduating Air Force pilots get to fly? **** ugly AF. 
Penetrode Offroad
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Which is fine, let the tech trickle down.
I want all that stuff for a ****ty marketplace crop duster.
It was a fad back then to convince the wife to take up belly dancing-
It's exclusively operated by the special forces people, so not the bottom of the barrel.So that's what the bottom percentile of graduating Air Force pilots get to fly? **** ugly AF.
It's the new sandy, and those dudes are no ****ing joke. Top tier pilots doing sketchy ****.
ThePanzerFuhrer
The Rock Breaker God
So the H. M. Murdochs get to fly it!!
Stuck
In Hell
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I dont think predators have the maneuverability that little crop duster does
Stuck
In Hell
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Yeah my wifes cousin does it. Except shes fat, gross and doesnt have any ***s or rythym.It was a fad back then to convince the wife to take up belly dancing-
nahmus
Refugee from syrup
bigun
Red Skull
Damn onion ninjas
subybaja
E. Spengler
Pocahontas
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Might have already been posted but this looks like a blast.
