Because the Skyraider II is the USAF’s first tailwheel plane in over 50 years, take a look at evaluators needed to devise a brand new methodology to confirm its efficiency.
The AFSOC’s (Air Drive Particular Operations Command) OA-1K Skyraider II plane is at the moment present process developmental testing at Eglin AFB, Florida, with the 96th Check Wing (96th TW) and the USSOC (U.S. Particular Operations Command), the Air Drive Materiel Command introduced on Jul. 28, 2025. The plane is being put by the paces to make sure it may well meet operational necessities for its proposed particular operation mission.
The press launch listed “human issue, dealing with high quality and austere touchdown missions” because the the OA-1K’s present take a look at aims, with future exams involving “sensor high quality and weapons launch.” The continued marketing campaign may also “consider the Skyraider II’s navy airworthiness and confirm the producer’s efficiency information accuracy,” the assertion added.
Photos launched on the DVIDS community on Jul. 29, 2025 however taken on Jun. 25 and Jul. 10, present the Skyraider II throughout routine operations, in addition to touchdown on a mud path as part of the continued marketing campaign.
This airframe might probably be the primary missionized variant of the L3Harris/Air Tractor OA-1K Skyraider II delivered to the AFSOC on Apr. 3, 2025, at Hurlburt Discipline, Florida. Nevertheless, not like the primary OA-1K, this one doesn’t bear the L3Harris brand on the left facet of the fuselage, the experimental markings and the orange air information probe.
🛠️The 96th Check Wing continues developmental testing of the OA-1K Skyraider II, @AFSpecOpsCmd‘s latest plane, to make sure it may well meet operational necessities. #OneAFMC @TeamEglin
Be taught extra: pic.twitter.com/flbVSJpi8W
— U.S. Air Drive Materiel Command ✈️ (@HQ_AFMC) July 29, 2025
Testing marketing campaign
The Skyraider II is the primary plane in U.S. Air Drive’s stock to characteristic a tailwheel in over 5 many years. This required take a look at evaluators to plot “a brand new methodology to confirm its efficiency,” mentioned the press launch.
Check pilots of varied backgrounds, who volunteered to check the Skyraider II, underwent additional coaching with the Skyraider II’s civilian variant, the AT-802U, to “be taught to fly the tailwheel plane successfully,” defined the service. This could possibly be additionally a reference to the AT-802Us that had been delivered to start out the coaching for the pilots that will fly the brand new plane.
Maj. Stephen Wakefield from the 96th TW mentioned the testing marketing campaign was preceded by preparations to make sure regulatory compliance and the correct operations assist for the Skyraider II. Amongst these preparations was the additional coaching for tailwheel plane.
“Flying the OA-1K has been a rewarding expertise and definitely one thing that has required me to convey my expertise to work day-after-day,” mentioned Maj. Jacob Marsh, 96th TW. “The enjoyable of flying it’s only a perk of the job.”
Apparently, Marsh drew a comparability with helicopters, mentioning that “flying un-augmented UH-1Ns at america Naval Check Pilot Faculty gave him a novel appreciation for the coordination wanted within the OA-1K.” He additional mentioned “there are a lot of aviation commonalities between helicopters and airplanes when working at comparable airspeeds.”
Within the images, the OA-1K may be seen with completely different configurations of weapons, primarily based on two LAU-131 A/A 7-round rocket pods on the outer pylons, with the fitting inside pylon carrying a Moog Twin Rail Launcher (DRL) and the left one carrying a Multi-Modal Sensor Pod (MMSP) with WESCAM MX-15 and MX-20 EO-IR turrets. In some images the plane is just carrying inert rockets in a single pods, whereas in others – just like the picture from the grime strip – the Skyraider II totally armed with its full meant payload of 14 APKWS II rockets and two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
The tandem-seat Skyraider is flying with each the pilot and the Fight Techniques Operator (CSO) throughout the exams. The discharge described the OA-1K Skyraider II as “a brand new cost-effective crewed plane” that may “assist geographically remoted particular operations personnel in austere places,” with “shut air assist, precision strike or armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” capabilities.
L3Harris/Air Tractor OA-1K Skyraider II
The OA-1K Skyraider II is a by-product of the AT-802U, and was developed in response to the AFSOC’s Armed Overwatch program in 2022. AFSOC officers revealed the ‘Skyraider II’ designation for the plane throughout the Particular Air Warfare Symposium on Feb. 27, 2025. The identify revives the legacy of the rugged and versatile A-1 Skyraider, which served from 1946 by the early Eighties.
Air Tractor and L3Harris beat the Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine, Embraer A-29 Tremendous Tucano, and PZL M28B 1R Bryza for the $3 billion AFSOC deal. The Skyraider II plane are inbuilt Olney, Texas, by Air Tractor and outfitted by L3Harris for the armed overwatch mission in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
AFSOC beforehand obtained two AT-802U coach plane at Hurlburt Discipline on Jun. 28, 2024, to coach crews for the missionized Armed Overwatch (OA-1K) variant. This was adopted by the 137th Particular Operations Wing of the Oklahoma ANG receiving its first AT-802U at Will Rogers Worldwide Airport in Oklahoma Metropolis on Jul. 29.
Further plane from the order of 75 models will head from the manufacturing line to the Will Rogers Air Nationwide Guard Base, Oklahoma “within the coming months.” The bottom hosts the Formal Coaching Unit (FTU) for the OA-1K.
Techniques and configuration
The Skyraider II has two EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared) turrets on the Multi-Modal Sensor Pod (MMSP) of the left wing’s inside hardpoint. Each sensors – a WESCAM MX-20 within the again and an MX-15 within the entrance – may be operated concurrently by the front-seated pilot and the rear-seated CSO.
The OA-1K’s normal weapon loadout consists of two seven-round LAU-131 A/A rocket pods, loaded with APKWS II laser guided rockets, and two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on a Moog Twin Rail Launcher. The LAU-131s are put in on the outer hardpoints, whereas the Moog DRL is on the fitting wing’s inside hardpoint.
For survivability, the OA-1K has AN/AAR-47 Missile Strategy Warning Sensors (MAWS) on the wingtips, in addition to AN/ALE-47 Airborne Countermeasures Dispenser System on the underside of the wings.
The big ‘bump’ on the again is a Ku-band SATCOM (Satellite tv for pc Communications) system for BLOS (Past Line-of-Sight) communications. The plane additionally has 5 different standard radio communications suites for each LOS and BLOS communications, working in varied bands and frequencies ranges.
The plane may also join with floor groups with information hyperlinks, who can remotely management the EO sensors. For traditional armed overwatch, ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and strike missions, both of the crew can find a goal on the bottom/map and put it in a goal waypoint listing, which sends it over to a Garmin navigation system, after which activate the autopilot to arrange an orbit across the spot.
