It’s Not the Plane, It’s the Payload: A 21st-Century Solution for Armed Overwatch
By Vincent Wroble
June 08, 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.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/06/08/its_not_the_plane_its_the_payload_a_21st-century_solution_for_armed_overwatch_115362.html
