Air Force to Buy Up to Six Light Attack Aircraft in FY’20, Continue Experimenting

摘要

Despite questions about its future, the Air Force’s light attack experiment is slated to continue as the service plans to procure about six turboprop aircraft in fiscal year 2020 while opening up the experiment to more platforms over the next few years, senior service officials said March 13. The service plans to procure “a small number” of light attack aircraft from an Embraer and Sierra Nevada Corp. [SNC] team and from Textron Aviation [TXT] and begin training with them at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and Hulbert Field in Florida, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said at the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing Wednesday. The service will use leftover funds from fiscal years 2018 and 2019 and new money in the FY ’20 budget to procure those aircraft, he said.