The Air Force is open to using Textron’s [TXT] Scorpion as its next close air support (CAS) platform, a top general said Friday, providing a boost to the company’s hopes of finding a buyer for its self-financed aircraft.
“It could, that’s not something that’s outside the realm,” Air Combat Command (ACC) chief Gen. Herbert Carlisle told reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon. “We have gone out and looked at other platforms to see if they could meet the low-end CAS capability at a reasonable cost-per-flying-hour…We’re just keeping our opportunities open.”
Carlisle said the Defense Department is bouncing around ideas for an A-10 follow-on called A-X, but nothing is concrete. Carlisle and service chiefs from across DoD participated in week-long, high-level summit at the Pentagon assessing the future of CAS. Carlisle said the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Army chief Gen. Ray Odierno, Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford, Navy Staff Director Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, National Guard Bureau Chief Army Gen. Frank Grass, and others, participated in the summit.
Textron said Scorpion has a cost-per-flying-hour of under $3,000 based on 266 total flight hours, though the company said in February on Twitter the jet passed 300 flight hours. Textron said it created Scorpion to fill a gap between turboprop light attack aircraft and fourth and fifth-generation multi-role strike fighters. Textron spokesman David Sylvestre said Friday the company was in discussion with potential buyers for Scorpion, but couldn’t comment on specifics.
“Certainly, we are encouraged by the general’s comments,” Sylvestre said. “From the start, Scorpion was designed to suit a broad range of missions, including close air support.”
Though Carlisle said the Air Force “certainly” can’t afford an A-10 replacement in today’s austere budget environment, the service is thinking about the future because it hasn’t done such a great job of doing so, he said.
“We’re not going to go out and start developing the platform,” Carlisle said. “We’re thinking about what an A-X would look like because we have to.”
Carlisle said the summit discussed future CAS issues like capability gaps in training and operations. The Air Force, he said, is looking at different ways to bridge training gaps through simulation and putting pilots in contract airplanes. It is also thinking about combining some exercises like Blue Flag with the Army warfighter assessment, he said, among other opportunities. Carlisle said the Air Force might “align resources” to get more training out of exercises like Ulchi Freedom Guardian and Austere Challenge that he said are taking place in Europe.
The CAS summit, Carlisle said, also discussed the future of weapons. Not just the ones DoD has now, he said, but the right ones, the best ones and how the military will develop those weapons. DoD, he said, will stand up an organization called the CAS Integration Group, likely based at Nellis AFB, Nev., with U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and the other services to advance the CAS understanding and the mission set.
The F-35 is slated to eventually replace the A-10 as DoD’s primary CAS platform, but Carlisle said the F-35 won’t initially be able to cover all CAS requirements. In its initial operational capability, Carlisle said, the F-35 will only be able to perform basic CAS, but as later blocks of the aircraft come into service, they should be able to perform more difficult CAS missions.
“The F-35, as we get into later models, is going to be the primary CAS platform in a very dangerous, highly-contested environment,” Carlisle said.
The Air Force wants to eventually retire the A-10, but has run into fierce resistance from lawmakers.