The A-29 Super Tucano (Embraer EMB 314) flies combat missions for around fifteen air forces. The only Super Tucanos the US Air Force still flies are three at Edwards Air Force Base, where they teach student test pilots how to recover from a spin. No American combat squadron has ever taken one to war. America has asked the light attack question seven times since 2008, and the Super Tucano was in the room for almost all of it. It won the Light Air Support contract in 2011, and all twenty aircraft went to the Afghan Air Force. It flew the 2017 light attack experiment at Holloman and advanced. Then special operations bought something that looks nothing like it: the OA-1K Skyraider II, built from the Air Tractor AT-802U Sky Warden, with ten pylons instead of five and six hours over a team on the ground, against about three and a half for the Super Tucano on internal fuel. Both aircraft are correct answers. This is the engineering story of what a requirement document can do to an aircraft without anyone laying a hand on it. #USAirForce #ClassifiedDecoded #SuperTucano #A29SuperTucano #SkyraiderII #LightAttack #militaryaviation TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Three at Edwards, and none of them fight 1:40 The question America asked seven times 3:21 The pull-out this aircraft was built for 6:13 Ten pylons against five, and why it matters 9:41 Five aircraft at Eglin, and one absence 12:39 What a requirement really grades 14:32 Buying a machine, or buying a bet
Source: Why the Super Tucano Fights for Everyone But America
