Monday, June 8, 2009

Intriguing new light attack aircraft unveiled


I'm both amused and impressed by the thinking that's gone into a prototype light attack aircraft that's just been unveiled.

One wouldn't normally consider an agricultural spray aircraft as the foundation for an attack plane, but it seems that Air Tractor has been thinking outside the box. The company began manufacturing agricultural aircraft after World War II. They've been pretty successful in this niche market: their 2,000th aircraft was delivered in 2004.

The Model 802 entered production in 1990, and is available for both agricultural and fire-fighting applications, in two-seat or single-seat versions (the latter, Model 802A, is shown below). Over 200 have been sold so far.




Here are two short video clips, one showing the 802 spraying crops in Iowa, the other of a firefighting version water-bombing a fire in Croatia.








The really impressive thing about the Model 802 is its size and payload. Air Tractor claim it's the world's largest single-engined aircraft. Its useful load is rated as 9,495 pounds, or well over four and a half short tons (including pilot and fuel, of course, as well as spray equipment, and chemicals for agricultural use or water for fire-bombing). It's powered by a jet turbine producing 1,295 shaft horsepower, and in agricultural form (i.e. with spray equipment) can cruise at 191 mph. Its economy cruise range is said to be over 600 miles.

This enormous payload capacity, plus the fact that the 802 is active in South America, where it's been used by the US State Department since 2002 to spray drug crops, seems to have set the brain cogs a-churning over at Air Tractor. They've just announced the development of the Model 802U, a gunship version of their agricultural plane.




On the face of it, the idea seems crazy. A heavy, relatively slow, fixed-undercarriage, tail-wheel, propeller-driven plane as an attack aircraft? Clearly, in any technologically up-to-date theater of war, it'd be suicide to fly such an aircraft. On the other hand, in areas such as parts of South America or Afghanistan, where ground-to-air missiles and radar-guided anti-aircraft artillery aren't encountered (not yet, anyway), this might make an awful lot of sense.

According to Air Tractor, the aircraft's old-fashioned fixed tail-dragger undercarriage is actually an advantage in operating from rough, unprepared air strips. It's far stronger than modern retractable undercarriages. Furthermore, the Model 802U is armored, has a loiter time of up to 10 hours with full fuel, and can carry a very respectable payload of weapons. It could conceivably even be fitted with a laser target designator pod, so that it could drop 'smart' bombs or fire laser-guided missiles. To make matters even more interesting, for anti-drug missions (e.g. to spray coca bushes in South America or opium poppy fields in Afghanistan) it could presumably carry both spray equipment and weapons, so that it could defend itself against ground fire, eliminate annoyed drug farmers, and kill their crops, all on a single mission!

I'm irresistibly reminded of the excellent combat performance of the Douglas A1 Skyraider in the Vietnam War. (We covered the Skyraider in detail, among others, in Weekend Wings #31.) It, too, was a propeller-driven aircraft, dating from the last years of World War II, but gave outstanding service well into the jet age, and was beloved of its pilots.




Who knows? Perhaps the Air Tractor Model 802U might begin a new Skyraider-like tradition over Third World battlefields (if the so-called 'War On Drugs' can be said to have battlefields as such). At any rate, kudos to Air Tractor for thinking outside the box. I wish them luck.

Peter

8 comments:

  1. In the bush wars in Africa in the '60s and '70s small aircraft were outfitted for light attack in the same manner as Air Tractor is contemplating. It's been a while since I read about it so I don't recall what type(s) were converted. I do remember that they were a success there for much the same reasons you cited for the probability of their success in South America's drug wars.

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  2. Yes, but can you imagine the movie possibilities for this?

    "In a world where the greatest threat to Freedom uses 19th century tactics, a brash rules-breaking cropduster is our last hope for victory. Lance Lawless, a once promising Air Force Academy cadet expelled for his part in a classroom prank, reduced to earning a wage protecting zucchinis and strawberries, just wants to put the past behind him. But the CIA needs him for the oldest new war of all..."

    I'm thinking Matt Damon would be a perfect Lance...


    Antibubba

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  3. Interesting idea, but where are the ammo cans for those guns going to go? Granted, thats worrying about trees rather than the forest. It is an intriguing idea; perhaps operate these in threes, two with spray tanks to attack narcotic crops and a third for overwatch or targets of opportunity. I'd skip the Mk. 82s in favour of more rockets or perhaps these. I don't think there is too much belonging to legitimacy-deprived entrepreneurs that would need that big a hammer!

    Jim

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  4. The Piper PA-51 Enforcer is another approach to the same problem. In most 3rd world countries, you don't need F-15s except to provide the presidents ne'er-do-well son with a fun toy to impress the ladies with, so why not use updated versions of 1950s technology?

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  5. IIRC the "Spad" could carry something north of 10k pounds of ordnance.

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  6. Spad Junior! It WILL sell, mark my words... :-)

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  7. Largest single-engine airplane? Better tack "currently in production" on that.

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  8. Deadstick - I agree, the Pilatus PC-12 is in production and a similar size, and the A-1 is I'm sure not the smallest single.. Fairey Gannet maybe? Grumman AF-2? I'm working off a quick Google search here.

    Jim

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