US Air Force has no real plan to procure a light attack aircraft.

A pair of AT-6 Wolverines. The Drive/Textron.

The US Air Force's plan to procure a light attack aircraft is not going well. The Drive/Warzone. The Air Force hasn't even defined what requirements they will have for the attack plane, let alone procured a large number of planes for evaluation. Right now the competition is between Textron's AT-6 Wolverine and Embraer's A-26 Super Tucano. It is possible that the Air Force will buy small order of planes and then replace them shortly after. 

My Comment:

Weapons procurement continues to be a giant mess and the OA-X program is yet another example. You would think it would be pretty easy to just pick one of these planes and deploy them but it never seems to work out that way. There are so many things that go wrong in these cases.

Part of it is lobbying and pork. This contract would bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars to whoever gets it. You better believe that Textron and Embraer are doing everything they can to secure the contract. 

All that being said I am excited by the OA-X program. Though the planes aren't sexy or cool, they are an important cog in the military machine that will help our troops on the ground. Much like the venerable A-10's these planes are meant to partially replace, they get the job of close air support done. 

I also think that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to not have these planes deployed already. The vast majority of air support missions seem to be overkill. Having F-15's and F-16's drop guided bombs when a turboprop aircraft could accomplish the same thing most of the time for much cheaper is a waste of money. 

The only problem I have with using these small planes is survivability. The threat of air defenses hasn't been a big deal until recently. The global proliferation of MANPADS has changed the calculus a bit. 

Unlike our high flying attack jets, like the F-15 and F-16 or the tough as nails A-10 Warthogs, these small aircraft seem especially vulnerable to air to ground missiles. Countermeasures can help against that but the Islamic militants that we so often fight aren't helpless against light attack aircraft.