Armed Overwatch Program Nears Source Selection.

• Author: Tegler, Jan

Despite the U.S military's shift to great power competition with China and Russia, Special Operations Command says it still needs aviation platforms that can support isolated commandos conducting irregular warfare in remote areas.

To fulfill the mission known as "Armed Overwatch," the command launched an initiative in 2020 to acquire 75 near-production-ready manned, propeller-driven turboprop aircraft.

Two years later, in the wake of demonstrations and evaluations that narrowed the field of aircraft competing for the program to three--L3 Harris' AT-802U Sky Warden, Textron Aviation Defense's AT-6 Wolverine and Sierra Nevada Corp.'s MC-145B Coyote--the command is on the verge of selecting one of the aircraft.

However, the vagaries of the defense budget have called the timing of the program into question. Enactment of the fiscal year 2022 defense budget arrived months late on March 10. With it came congressional approval of Special Operations Command's request for $170 million to buy six aircraft.

The appropriation marks the start of Armed Overwatch as a program of record, according to Ken McGraw, a public affairs officer at the command.

Eighteen days later, the Biden administration introduced the Defense Department's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal debuted with a request for $246 million to purchase nine additional Armed Overwatch aircraft as well as required support equipment, and training and mission-planning devices, pending congressional approval.

That puts the three companies vying for Armed Overwatch and the command itself in a waiting game. Asked when the first six aircraft will actually be purchased, McGraw said they will be bought "after source selection is complete."

He declined to share details on when this will happen, stating only that "USSOCOM plans to award a production contract before the end of this fiscal year."

Thus, with just six months remaining in fiscal 2022, it remains unknown which aircraft will be chosen.

Also unknown is how a congressionally directed independent assessment of Armed Overwatch from the Pentagon's Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, due along with the 2023 budget request, may impact how many aircraft are ultimately purchased.

Armed Overwatch aircraft would replace the 28 U-28A Draco intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft now in-service with three operational squadrons in Air Force Special Operations Command, as well as eight trainers.

The aging Dracos have been worked...