I wish them well, but color me "unimpressed". The jet is not going to worth a popcorn fart in any sort of air-combat regime. So it is for surveillance and bombing targets that don't have any capability to shoot back in a meaningful way.
It is competing with, right off the top of my head: The Beech AT-6B, the Embraer Super Tucamo, the Pilaus PC-7, the Air Tractor AT-802 and the Boeing OV-10X. All of them, other than the OV-10X, are production aircraft that'll probably do everything the Scorpion can do, other than a tad bit slower (they're turboprops) and a lot cheaper (they're turboprops).*
The Air Force itself is not in love with attack-specific airplanes, given how hard they've worked over the years to kill the A-10s. The sad reality that an American military aircraft that is not adopted by the American military stands a very slim chance in the international military market, as anyone who has a passing familiarity with the F-20 can attest.
__________________________________________
*And they're all competing with armed drones, which don't require expensively-trained pilots.
Might be useful as a squadron hack for those who want to pick up a few flying hours or make a quick trip somewhere. But they don't buy planes for that purpose, do they?
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right about them being useless, but I'd still like to have one...
ReplyDelete