It’s Not the Plane, it’s the Payload: A 21st-Century Solution for Armed Overwatch
Vincent Wroble
June 8, 2020
The recent announcement that U.S. Special Operations Command plans to acquire 75 aircraft for an armed overwatch program is an essential step to filling a capabilities gap that has existed for most of the war on terror due to the relatively high cost of existing armed overwatch platforms.
Armed overwatch provides air support to surface-based forces by having an aircraft that “can observe the situation from a defensible position and provide supporting fires if necessary.†But this essential need comes at a high cost. This has created both a capability gap in that partner nations cannot provide indigenous armed overwatch and a capacity gap in that there are not enough armed overwatch aircraft for U.S. special operations forces.
However, the wide variety of aircraft being considered for this role—ranging from small business jets, to crop dusters to military trainers—suggests that U.S. Special Operations Command has struggled to define its needs for its armed overwatch program. Rather than attempting to acquire one or two new types of airframes, an alternative solution involves retrofitting strike capability to aircraft already in service through the development and acquisition of a common launch system for air-launched loitering munitions that can easily be installed in several different types of aircraft for the armed overwatch role. Such a common launch system would allow SOCOM to operate a great number of aircraft types with precision strike capability, resulting in more effective covert operatives and better advising of partner forces.
https://thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2020/6/8/its-not-the-plane-its-the-payload-a
