Lawmakers Include $400M ‘Light Attack’ Aircraft Procurement Language in 2018 NDAA

A group of U.S. lawmakers has proposed a $400 million initial budget for the U.S. Air Force to purchase a new light attack aircraft platform through the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018, DoD Buzz reported Wednesday.

The Senate Armed Services Committee initially planned to obligate $1.2 billion for the procurement of light attack aircraft that can potentially succeed the Air Force’s current A-10 fleet.

The Air Force performed an experiment at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in August to evaluate the L3–AirTractor team’s AT-802 Longsword; Textron‘s Scorpion and AT-6B Wolverine platforms; and the Sierra Nevada–Embraer alliance’s A-29 Super Tucano.

SASC Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) was quoted as saying by DoD Buzz that he thinks the military branch should have a fleet of 300 light-attack fighters “that would require minimal work to develop.”