Industry Report – Adequate, Affordable, Appropriate – Combat Aircraft for Small Air Forces

Source: World Air News

The Textron AirLand Scorpion – a light weight fighter with a sting in its tail…

The Textron AirLand Scorpion is in a class of its own, offering better range than almost any of the turboprop types at similar cruising speed, but with the potential of a 450 knot dash speed and more than double the weapons load, as well as an internal bay that can be used for sensors, fuel or weapons.

Using the bay for fuel should increase internal fuel range to some 2 457 nm while keeping all six under-wing stations free, giving the Scorpion a combat radius/time on station potential unmatched by anything other than a fixed-wing gunship or some of the top-end fighters that cost vastly more to own and operate and are not well suited to this mission set.

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