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PICTURE: AirTractor delivers UAE's first AT-802Us By Stephen Trimble The first two of 10 AirTractor AT-802Us ordered by the United Arab Emirates air force have been spotted by alert photographers. The counter-insurgency aircraft - each powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A turboprop engine - arrived at Luqa airport in Malta in late December while en route to their final destination in the UAE. Abu Dhabi ordered the adapted cropdusters last year, when it became the first acknowledged military buyer for the counter-insurgency version. The AT-802U is fitted with a turret-housed electro-optical/infrared sensor to identify targets on the ground....

PICTURE: Air Tractor prangs precision strike demonstrator By John Croft A too-short landing at an Army reserve base in California caused substantial damage Air Tractor's AT-802U surveillance, precision strike and utility demonstrator aircraft on 21 October. According to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, a pilot and flight test engineer flying in the two-seat modified agricultural single at the time were testing maximum performance takeoffs and landings on the 1,829m (6,000ft) hard clay Schoonover runway at Fort Hunter Liggett California when the accident occurred. Neither was injured. ©NTSB "The pilot was attempting a short field landing and had full...

FARNBOROUGH: Air Tractor sells anti-insurgent fighter to first customer By Stephen Trimble Texas-based Air Tractor has launched production of the AT-802U surveillance, precision strike and utility aircraft for an undisclosed foreign customer, chief designer Lee Jackson confirms. Details about the order's size and identity remain secret at the request of the customer, Jackson says. The converted cropduster parked on the static line also displayed a full array of weaponry, including an all-new precision glide bomb with 3m (10ft) circular error probable (CEP) accuracy in the 50kg (110lb)-class designed by Moog/FTS that is called the "border protection weapon" (BPW). The AT-802...

U.S. and international air forces are becoming interested and open to utilizing off-the-shelf equipment in low-intensity, counter-insurgency and counter-drug operations in remote areas. The U.S. Navy is already evaluating an armed version of Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano under a classified evaluation program known as ‘Imminent Fury’. The Navy is currently evaluating a single aircraft and is seeking a budget of $44 million to embark on a larger program. The Special Operations Command, Air Force and US Marine Corps are also interested in employing off the shelf assets for low-intensity Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and rapid target engagement. Armed Super Tucanos...