2021–22 US Special Operations program to purchase new close air support aircraft
Armed Overwatch program
Clockwise, from top left: The AT-6B Wolverine, A-29 Super Tucano, AT-802L Longsword, and M28B 1R Bryza (variant of C-145A).
Outcome
AT-802U Sky Warden selected
The Armed Overwatch program is an effort launched by U.S. Special Operations Command to purchase roughly 75 crewed, fixed-wing aircraft to perform close air support, precision strike, and ISR missions.[1] The Air Tractor-L3Harris AT-802U Sky Warden system was selected to deliver this capability.[2]
SOCOM plans to use the system as a replacement for the U-28A Draco aircraft for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights in remote areas. The U-28As will reach the end of their service life soon, so the Armed Overwatch program is being conducted rapidly, with the aim of selecting a design, retraining crews, and fielding the new aircraft without causing "a decrease in capacity on the battlefield."[3]
Armed Overwatch and its predecessor programs are distinct from the Light Air Support program, a U.S. Air Force competition to select a turboprop attack aircraft for use by the Afghan Air Force, not by U.S. forces.[4]
The ArmedOverwatch program is an effort launched by U.S. Special Operations Command to purchase roughly 75 crewed, fixed-wing aircraft to perform close...
The Overwatch franchise, a series of first-person shooter games developed by Blizzard Entertainment, consists of 40 playable characters across both games...
is to fulfill the roles of reconnaissance, close air support, and armedoverwatch. Development on the Mojave began around 2018 or 2019. The initial objective...
42. Church 2023, p. 135. Hadley, Greg (19 March 2024). "SOCOM Cuts ArmedOverwatch Buy from 75 to 62 Aircraft". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Retrieved...
finalists for the United States Special Operations Command's (USSOCOM's) ArmedOverwatch program. The 1,000th was delivered in 1998; the 1,500th in 2005; the...
Nevada Corporation (SNC) to demonstrate the MC-145B as part of the ArmedOverwatch program, which is seeking to acquire a new crewed light attack aircraft...
selected the Air Tractor-L3Harris AT-802U Sky Warden as a result of the ArmedOverwatch program, awarding an indefinite quantity contract (IDIQ) to deliver...
first shots during combat in German service on 4 May 2013, providing armedoverwatch to special forces troops with unguided rockets and machine gun fire...
42. Church 2023, p. 135. Hadley, Greg (19 March 2024). "SOCOM Cuts ArmedOverwatch Buy from 75 to 62 Aircraft". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Retrieved...
surveillance aircraft to U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, for its ArmedOverwatch program. Paramount announced that it had sold a total of nine aircraft...
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, combat search and rescue, armedoverwatch and close air support to one of the largest logistics movements since...
Tunisia during a military assisted departure. USAF F-16's provided armedoverwatch for the embassy convoy as they drove through Libya. The evacuation...
Fareeha Amari, is a character who first appears in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment-developed first-person shooter. Voiced by Jen...
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, combat search and rescue, armedoverwatch and close air support to one of the largest logistics movements since...
Satya Vaswani, is a character who first appears in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment–developed first-person shooter. Voiced by Anjali...
Global Information
