Armed Overwatch Aircraft on SOCOM’s Shopping List
5/4/2020
By Yasmin Tadjdeh
In October of 2017, an infamous ambush near the village of Tongo Tongo, Niger, left four American and four local soldiers dead after taking enemy fire from militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
The tragic event was “emblematic of the type of environment where we have people on the ground that need to be supported,†said Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim†Slife, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command.
AFSOC is now pursuing a new fixed-wing aircraft program, known as Armed Overwatch, to provide a capability that could change the outcome of that type of ambush scenario in the future, he said.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/5/4/armed-overwatch-aircraft-on-socoms-shopping-list
