First Armed Overwatch AT-802Us In Conversion; Tests Planned This Year

FORT WALTON BEACH, Florida—L3Harris is converting the first two AirTractor AT-802s to the special operations OA-1K armed overwatch aircraft ahead of planned government verification tests later this year.

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) last summer selected the Air Tractor/L3Harris team for the Armed Overwatch program, picking the AT-802U Sky Warden for its planned 75-aircraft fleet. Armed Overwatch will replace the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command’s U-28 surveillance fleet with a rugged aircraft that will primarily perform close air support with additional surveillance capability, with a specific focus on operating from rugged, austere locations.

Col. Ken Kuebler, SOCOM’s fixed wing program executive officer, tells Aerospace DAILY that the first production aircraft arrived at the L3Harris modification facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Air Tractor’s production line in Olney, Texas, in early February. The initial prototype aircraft, which was originally used in SOCOM’s evaluation, also is at the Tulsa facility to be converted to production representative. This aircraft will start flying in L3Harris’s contractor verification tests, with the government’s verification tests planned in the early first quarter of fiscal 2024.

The aircraft are being modified from the original prototype, including a redesigned wing. Kuebler says the changes are not unexpected and will not add to the program’s aggressive schedule. Air Force Special Operations Command in a statement says the modified wing will provide a “growth path for future modifications.”

SOCOM will spend up to $3 billion for the program, with a planned initial operational capability in 2026-2027.

In the meantime, SOCOM will continue to fly and sustain the U-28 until crews transition from it to the OA-1K, Kuebler says. The U-28 is a modified, surveillance-only Pilatus PC-12. 

The change from the U-28 to the OA-1K means unique training for pilots. The Air Tractor is the first “tail dragger” airplane the military will operate in large numbers, with its conventional landing gear and two main wheels forward of the center of gravity.