The Airforce newest strike attack craft, the L3Harris OA-1K Skyraider Il is designed for close air support and armed ISR. It was developed from the Air Tractor AT-802, an aircraft that is used for agriculture and fire-fighting. It weapons include Hellfire missiles, AGR-20 APKWS rockets, GBU-12 bombs

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

I couldn't fit all of its weapons in the title but it's payload is 6,000 pounds and has external hardpoints, with 2 centerline and 8 wing-mounted pylons.

It also can carry .50 cals and 20mm guns

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maddoxnysi@reddit

I wonder what war theatre missions it can do? Slow, limited range what radar it uses

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maddoxnysi@reddit

Damn,,,,i heard you guys have problems, half of them will die of hart attack

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SubjectMatter@reddit

Africa, South America. Looks very anti-cartel/ warlord, CIA covert.

Basically anywhere a bush plane with a machine gun and a few other spicy surprises will do the trick instead of an F-xx.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Yes these plane is used by special forces

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szu@reddit

Wouldn't a drone be cheaper and better? More endurance/payload at a fraction of the cost.

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potataoboi@reddit

Nothing beats the Mk. 1 Eyeball optical sensors

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ChancelorReed@reddit

Seems like trying to solve a problem just in time for cheap drones more effectively solving the same problem.

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zoinkability@reddit

Exactly. My guess is that this will be used until a pilot is shot down over enemy territory, and subsequently it will be 100% drones

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aloneinorbit@reddit

This type of plane has been in service around the world for a long time. This is just a slight new variant, not a net new concept.

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zoinkability@reddit

I don’t dispute that. I’m saying that drones, which are the new thing, cover most of its use cases

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StatlerSalad@reddit

The only thing stopping this being a sat-controlled drone is that silly glass thing with a seat in it.

For areas with too much AA for an MQ-9 and too many sensors for high-altitude stealth drones like the RQ-180 a ground-hugging prop-driven attack/recon drone might have a role.

There's a reason only the Americans are going down this path though. Only the US has the money and interest in trying every developmental line just in case they miss the one that turns out to be really important in 10/20/30 years!

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BlueGooNC@reddit

Maybe this is a solution to cheap drones - send them to ukraine

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ChancelorReed@reddit

I mean Ukraine is already using old prop planes for a similar purpose but these things cost like $40m a pop, you could have thousands of drones for the cost of one.

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yunus89115@reddit

$40M, holy cow! I know they have lower operating costs but good lord I had figured these would be $10M or less.

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theoriginalturk@reddit

They don’t.

Neither is their operating cost significantly different than conventional turboprop drones

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SubjectMatter@reddit

6000lb payload....this beauty can mother so many baby drones

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Certified-T-Rex@reddit

Imagine getting assigned to 160th just to fly a crop duster

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SubjectMatter@reddit

Lol.... Mission one: fly along Muscle Beach pulling an aerial banner.

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maddoxnysi@reddit

Should it be unmanned drones by now?

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covex_d@reddit

columbian cartels are training in ukraine right now. they’ll know how to deal with this plane.

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outworlder@reddit

What does "Columbia" have to do with it ?

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covex_d@reddit

i replied to a post saying this plane can be used in south america against cartels

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outworlder@reddit

Columbia isn't in South America.

Colombia is.

Also cartels don't have unlimited resources to protect all their installations. A plane like this is going to be really useful. Cartel aircraft don't have sidewinders either. The Tucano is used a lot in Brazil as an intercept plane.

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covex_d@reddit

my bad, of course i meant colombia. they already attacked a police heli with drones. ukraine is selling them whatever weapons they want and cartels are sending their men to fight there.

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outworlder@reddit

"Ukraine is selling them whatever weapons they want"

Citation needed. Maybe if the war was over and they had a surplus. Right now, weapons is what they need the most, why would they be selling anything?

There are some - as of yet unconfirmed - rumors that cartels might be sending some of their people there to get real world combat experience and training, covertly.

Decades ago, Brazilian cartels had anti aircraft weapons (AA guns and stinger missiles) to keep police helicopters away. They got those from Colombian cartels. decades ago. That is nothing new.

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Only_Razzmatazz_4498@reddit

Or where it has to survive around manpads or half decent AD.

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Quinn-Helle@reddit

I think it's a slightly more cost effective anti-drone answer also.

We've seen similar planes (albeit not as advanced) and helicopters shooting down drones both in Ukraine and Israel

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maddoxnysi@reddit

Yeah but i dont think scalable to use it as part of drone defence, i thought missions for this plane drones should be doing by now

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pdp_8@reddit

But very likely some of the best if not the best availability of any military plane there is. The name "Air Tractor" wasn't a mistake - these were designed to be maintained by a guy whose bigger concerns in life are whether the processor for his crops is going to offer enough to make a profit. They're simple machines meant to be durable, the opposite of hangar queens.

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maddoxnysi@reddit

No doubt a great plane, but i thought drones should do the mission by now

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arpereis@reddit

COIN

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GradientCollapse@reddit

Anywhere where the current air superiority is some random super charged Cessna loaded beyond capacity with cocaine.

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maddoxnysi@reddit

Drones better choice should be

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Southern_Leg1139@reddit

We were begging for this kind of airframe in Afghanistan. Well, it finally arrived 🫠

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maddoxnysi@reddit

Should it be unmanned drones by now?

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MarcosFauve@reddit

Limited range? That thing be setup to fly 10h. I regularly see them crossing the Atlantic from Cabo Verde to Brasil

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maddoxnysi@reddit

Those are special planes with extra tanks

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Ausgeflippt@reddit

Yeah, I wonder what the original name for it was.

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FZ_Milkshake@reddit

Exact same as the A-10, low intensity, total air supremacy.

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SoylentVerdigris@reddit

The things we've been using the A-10 for, but at a fraction of the cost.

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I_AM_THE_SEB@reddit

It is also a cost efficient way to combat shahead drones

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TheLizardKing89@reddit

Low threat environments like counter-insurgency.

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nedim443@reddit

My first thought was it would not survive the first mission in Ukraine. This works against non- "near-peer" forces with no air defense whatsoever. Armed peasants basically.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Ukraine is using the Yak-52 to shoot down Russian drones and it's works well

I'm sure a plane built in 2025 works better than a plane built in the 70s

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nedim443@reddit

Not near the front and not for missions requiring using GBU-12's.

Arguably shooting down slow drones could best be done with slower WWII figthers.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

From the US military perspective, enemy drones are on the front lines, backlines, coal mines , every line possible

Why would you use a F-22 when this can take drones just as easy and more way more affordable.

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Likesdirt@reddit

Sorta? An f-22 isn't going to have an easy time shooting down a mass drone attack - and neither will this ground attack plane.

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Mimshot@reddit

I would bet the hourly cost of flying this forward deployed is actually cheaper than trying to do so with a P-47 Thunderbolt.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

P-47 cost per hour $3,000

This plane cost per hour $1,000

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devildog2067@reddit

This thing is basically a modernized WWII fighter

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Kamusaurio@reddit

this thing is to suport special ops on the ground

on remote places where you cant deploy air support in a normal way

not inentended for heavy combat in a war

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esnolaukiem@reddit

soon to be adopted by police

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

It's designed to be used by special forces, not massed troop formations

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MoeSzyslakMonobrow@reddit

Pilot could probably just slide open a window and cap someone in a fly by.

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Pavores@reddit

WWI throwback!

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Superb-Photograph529@reddit

Dusty Crophopper finds himself in a galaxy far, far away.

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here4daratio@reddit

This thing’ll bullseye womprats better than a T-16

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TitoJuli@reddit

This plane adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "freedom seeds"

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MrScootini@reddit

Fun fact: it’s got no ejection seat 💀

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En4cr@reddit

Interesting that this was selected over the A-29 Super Tucanos.

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phatRV@reddit

Can the Super Tucano land on unprepared airfield? I don't know the answer but I know the Air Tractor can.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

These have almost double the payload, four scanners (three visual and one radar) backed by an A.I to help the operator video targets

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AngriestManinWestTX@reddit

A.I

Where are you seeing this stuff about AI?

I'm sure it's got some nice avionics and such, but what is passing for "AI" in this case?

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

"There's an AI system monitoring the video feeds"

https://www.10percenttrue.com/post/skyraiderii?srsltid=AfmBOopRFxx-Feep7X0b7TvtTYLzEaDcpysCBJyhQcEK3rp5oNPNkSmy

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jay_in_the_pnw@reddit

I assumed that was an "Airforce Intern"

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the_Q_spice@reddit

Which wasn’t the mission they were competing for whatsoever.

The initial brief was for armed overwatch.

The C208B variant was heads and shoulders above either the Tucano or OA-1K due to both already being in use with the Army and AF (already have qualified pilots and ground crew), being able to seat 9 passengers with equipment, or a combination of passengers/crew, cargo, and equipment, capable of fully autonomous flight (FedEx and SOCOM paired up and made an autonomous drone version for delivery to remote islands in the Pacific), can fit up to an additional 3,000 lbs of internal fuel, already has type-rated float and ski conversions.

Basically, the 208 gave the ability to land or take off anywhere in the world (with minor conversions needed), a CASEVAC/MEDEVAC platform for 2-4 patients + crew, a cargo plane capable of carrying up to 2,500lbs of cargo, a parachuting operations platform, a weapons platform, a signint/elint/warfare platform, and no need for new equipment or training.

The biggest selling points of the OA-1K were largely falsified or at best, highly exaggerated.

Its operating costs ballooned from an advertised $1,000/hr to now in excess of $8,000/hr, and as high as $150,000/hr factoring in the airframe purchase.

Anyone with half a brain knew the $1k/hr bid was stupid; the civilian version costs over $1.5k/hour to operate for instance vs the AC-208B costing around $1.4-2.0k/hr. The “<$1,000/hr” claim of the Sky Tractor is mainly dependent on having 0 hangar or airport ramp costs (storing it at your own farm), and not needing to pay the pilot (flying it yourself). In reality, those costs actually exist and have to be accounted for.

L3 also quoted an acquisition cost ^without ^modifications of $750,000 per plane. That ballooned to a whopping $15.4 million per plane. The AC-208B costs a paltry $2-3 million per plane in comparison.

The result has been SOCOM cutting the Skyraider II contract down like crazy, trying to reduce its utterly insane $3-4B bill:

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/socom-cuts-armed-overwatch-buy-from-75-to-62-aircraft/

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

It reduced it from 75 to 62 planes

That's still alot of planes being delivered so obviously has a role

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HutchOne23@reddit

Didn’t one of these just crash recently? Looks like a fun airplane

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Finnegan_Faux@reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1oezjyp/oa1k_skyraider_crash_oklahoma/

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phatRV@reddit

Powerplant issue and the airplane wing clipped a powerline pole. We don't know the cause of the powerplant issue but the turboprop engine can run for many thousands of hours. But we cannot rule out fuel contamination which happened to be more common in the military than in the civilian world. I have no idea why that is the case.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Yeah some of these are delivered to units already

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Pilot error

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pescado01@reddit

When the missel costs more than the plane.

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separation_of_powers@reddit

Purely a COIN aircraft, for use in areas of operation where there is limited to no anti-air defence.

There’s no way something like this would be used on or even near a FLOT, because it’d get shot down well before it got there.

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FlatPainting3846@reddit

great for the future war in venezuela

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Ausgeflippt@reddit

Venezuela has F-16s and Flankers.

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SkiingAway@reddit

I mean, it won't after Day 1 of any conflict, so that doesn't really matter.

Venezuela does have plenty of manpads though, which would be the larger problem/risk to utilizing it.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Or 90 % of countries in deserts and jungles

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Thekoolaidman7@reddit

Close enough, welcome back P-51

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LegitimateSubject226@reddit

Bloody ugly

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Significant_Play_713@reddit

Imagine getting shit on by a glorified crop duster.

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AgentVirg24110@reddit

They should paint it in something that isn’t just gray. It’s not like it can be stealthy with the prop reflecting every radar wave that even touches, not to mention the shape of the thing

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SubRedTed@reddit

Dusty Crophopper?

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GreenSubstantial@reddit

r/shittytechnicals

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

F-22 costs an hr to blow up a cheap drone - $44,000 to $90,000

L3Harris OA-1K Skyraider II costs an hr to blow up a cheap drone - $1,000

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Cold_Ad_2160@reddit

Build a cheap drone to blow up drones. Don’t sell me a 40 million dollar airplane to blow up a 15,000 dollar drone.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Predator drone cost per hour - $3,500-$12,255

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Cold_Ad_2160@reddit

I don’t think we will be shooting down predator drones with this. A Shaheed drone is about 20-40k total cost. The operating cost is purely speculative at this point for the Skyraider until it begins operating. Like most military programs, actual cost never comes close to projected cost during contract award.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Units already have this plane , I believe one crashed a month ago from a guard unit hitting wires

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Cold_Ad_2160@reddit

Just started flying this year. My point being that the projected flying cost per hour ($1000) will almost certainly go up once it starts flying with the units and actual cost is calculated.

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theoriginalturk@reddit

OP clearly is talking out of their ass defending something that’s chief selling point is that a human gets to fly in it: up until it becomes their coffin

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

So the Air Force, the special forces, and the Pentagon are all just idiots.... my bad Reddit is so much smarter

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Cold_Ad_2160@reddit

Yes. All three organizations have individuals who need to promote the next best thing. Money gets allocated and has to be spent. So staff officers build PowerPoint slides shows, sell the concept to their General Officer who then sells it up to the chain so they can get more money to spend on the next best thing. Trust me I have a pretty good idea how it works.

Now what I would tell you is that 4 billion dollars could have been better spent on what Ukraine and Russia are proving on the battlefield not on PowerPoint slides. Drones, low cost by Pentagon standards, can provide tactical level precision strike and unit level fire support.

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theoriginalturk@reddit

Your mixing a lot of things up again and making an appeal to authority fallacy

The Air Force didn’t want this plane: a small sub section called AFSOC did

Do you have an experience in the military industrial complex? It sure doesn’t seem like it

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Malcolm2theRescue@reddit

Didn’t have wire cutters like the AG model?

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Erzbengel-Raziel@reddit

he wasn't talking about shooting down predator drones, instead it's about comparing the cost of using different platforms to shoot down stuff.

All of them are simply ways to give your missiles (aka "combustion powered suicide drones") more range.

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MarkoHighlander@reddit

"$1,000 cost an hour"

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TomVonServo@reddit

If you think this costs $1000 per hour I have some real estate to sell you

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Unofficial-Plays@reddit

Should’ve been the AT-6

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fighter_pil0t@reddit

Thank you.

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den40den@reddit

We need a lot of these here in Ukraine!❤️

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koalaking2014@reddit

Im sorry does this thing have TWO Tpods?

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JoeBamique@reddit

IL-2 Sturmovik is back boys!

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Mysterious-Engine166@reddit

That is one cool plane!

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RedHuey@reddit

Why would they want such an aircraft where the wings block the forward-downward view of the cockpit?

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Ok-Extent-7515@reddit

How many years did it take the Americans to create their version of the Il-2?

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AngriestManinWestTX@reddit

I remember reading about how the US wanted a plane like this 20 years ago, so a really long time. Why it took so damn long to weaponize a crop duster, I don't know.

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Quarterwit_85@reddit

I thought that ultimately they didn't want it - they needed something faster to get to the AO where infantry were taking contact?

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Intelligent_League_1@reddit

Trick question the P-47 did that in 1940

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Ok-Extent-7515@reddit

The P-47 was still designed for high-altitude bomber escort, although of course it was also good as a ground-attack aircraft.

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EclecticEuTECHtic@reddit

A-10?

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QuillsROptional@reddit

Where do they put the GAU-8 ?

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imbasicallycoffee@reddit

(sad A-10 brrrrrrt noises)

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BRINGBACKPLYMOUTH@reddit

Oh my god its cannon

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Electrical_Expert525@reddit

Looks like a turbocharged il-2. They need to place a gunner behind because drones would start attack these things in a few years

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FoxMulder314@reddit

Here's to hoping they makes a solid counter-drone asset when equipped with APKWS.

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rakithaya@reddit

Imagine you are the pilot of a Mig/Sukhoi/ flying over corn fields in Ukraine and suddenly you get missile lock from what you initially dismissed as a crop duster

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EpicLong1@reddit

Dusty crop Hopper if you joined the jolly wrenches

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Certified-T-Rex@reddit

The plot of Planes 2

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saml01@reddit

You mean planes 3

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TheGacAttack@reddit

Maru getting giddy to weld on some hard points.

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EpicLong1@reddit

MARU!?…….what?!

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Kaffe-Mumriken@reddit

That’s Planes r34

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HK47WasRightMeatbag@reddit

That's over on NCD

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Gripen782@reddit

Disney Planes 3: Dusty goes to War.

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cosmic-lattee@reddit

Dusty Crophopper and the chambers L3Harris

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DwarfVader@reddit

F22 pilots walking around thinking they have the biggest of the balls...

silently behind them stands the pilots of the Skyraider.

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STUDIO-101@reddit

yes i am

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

Imagine completing pilot training with the supersonic T-38 and getting this POS as your reward! 🤣

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Squacklor@reddit

i agree. i would be hating my life

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

Must be some army veterans trying to justify their existence with the downvotes. 🤣

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Hardturn_90@reddit

I’d love to see a technical analysis of how this platform outperforms A10.

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Squacklor@reddit

it wasn’t made to replace the A-10’s. it was made to mainly replace the U28 draco

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Icy-Weekend-755@reddit

Cheaper to send for COIN missions. The A-10 fails to fill either a peer to peer or COIN role because it’s not survivable enough for a modern peer opponent while not being cheap enough to send on COIN ops. The crop duster carries all the important weapons like the APKWS and GBUs while having better loiter time and cheaper operating costs. The f-16 or even the F-35 does all the roles needed in a peer conflict for not much more cost while actually being survivable. A-10 will be shot down like flies in an actual peer conflict.

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

Ask the Congressman whose district these are made. It’s the US, money rules.

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Redoron@reddit

Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, boy!

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blastmanager@reddit

When you're fighting insurrectionists at 11, but pops need you to spray the fields by 12.

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arpereis@reddit

Just load with agent orange and you can do both in one pass ;)

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Boredengineer_84@reddit

Ukraine needs these to shoot drones down

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Ghost403@reddit

I want this so fucking badly

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Jon8276@reddit

And 1 has already crashed...

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akrafty1@reddit

Dusty Crophopper got pissed off.

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Arctalurus@reddit

Good for civil warfare?

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Its Pokémon evolution

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ElSquibbonator@reddit

Yankee Shturmovik

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antarcticgecko@reddit

Opduster

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Raketenelch@reddit

Looks like the child of a Stuka and IL-2.

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chatroomking@reddit

Looks a lot like it has the DNA of an IL-2 Sturmovik

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dmav522@reddit

Unworthy of the name

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PilotBurner44@reddit

So an Gray air tractor.

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an_older_meme@reddit

When the add ons cost more than the ride itself.

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West-Organization450@reddit

By a lot! The Ag version is still a little under 2.5 million bucks…which seems absurd in itself.

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an_older_meme@reddit

I never got into flying beyond rental ultralights because airplanes are so stupid expensive.

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thebomby@reddit

Would this survive a drone with explosives?

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24valley10@reddit

Still like the A 10 better.

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wt1j@reddit

A L3Harris sales guy and an Air Tractor sales guy walk into a bar.

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turdclipper@reddit

Harvester of Death!

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ttystikk@reddit

A crop duster converted into close air support?

Is there a punchline?!

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

Ask the Congressman whose district it’s made.

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ttystikk@reddit

LOL that's the most American answer ever!

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HyperionsDad@reddit

Dusty Crophopper had a mid life crisis

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El_mochilero@reddit

When they thought the A-10 was too ugly…

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Ok-Limit-9726@reddit

Wash your mouth out,

Brrrrrrrrrrtttt

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Ok-Limit-9726@reddit

So beautiful,😍

I’m crying….😭

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TheOptimisticHater@reddit

I’m curious what loiter time would be

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gfhopper@reddit

At least one group of pilots already knew this was an incredible close air support platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsvf_ixKGO8

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gopropak@reddit

We left a bunch of these at bagram when we left.

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

The follow on to the A-10? Looks like a huge leap backwards. Survival time against a near peer adversary 3 seconds.

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loiteraries@reddit

After seeing what Houthis in flip flops can do, we can’t be too certain that this thing will survive cartels for too long.

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

Absolutely. Some Congressman needed votes

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jun_b_magno@reddit

Its ugly compared to the tucano

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No_Scheme3766@reddit

Canada should buy a fleet of these. 🤔

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LuckOrdinary@reddit

Its also optionally manned

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wolftick@reddit

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ValuableShoulder5059@reddit

Well the only problem I see, it's got a max operational altitude of 100', and it usually takes a zoom climb to get that high.

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Serpico2@reddit

Seems like a platform for the small wars the US fought over the past 25 years in areas without denied airspace. Doesn’t seem suited to the potential peer conflicts of the next 25 years.

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anteup@reddit

It can be sold to other countries. Don't forget arms export is a highly profitable business

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AngriestManinWestTX@reddit

That's exactly what I was thinking but more succinct than the comment I was typing up.

I was pretty young, but I remember the reading internet articles about how badly the US wanted a plane like this 20 years ago. Why it took so long to strap a few machine guns, rocket pods, and bombs on to an already existing airframe, I don't know, but it seems like something that would have seemed really cool in 2010 but less meaningful in 2025.

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Amazing-Roof8525@reddit

But it’s a prop plane in the jet era, carrying a large(for its size) payload

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BiAsALongHorse@reddit

The APKWS are ideal for hunting OWA drones

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samdamaniscool@reddit

I mean, just because we MIGHT go into full peer to peer at some point soon doesn't mean those small conflicts are just going to go away

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Thank you ! Somebody said it

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Adjutant_Reflex_@reddit

Say what?

In an age of constrained budgets and finite resources it’s shocking to see over $3bn spent on a piece of kit that has no role in a modern battlefield. This is the epitome of “fighting the last war.”

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Mimshot@reddit

We don’t know what the next wire is going to be. It could be against China or it could be narco gangs in Haiti. Using a $100M aircraft to do a job a $40M aircraft can do better isn’t really saving money.

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Adjutant_Reflex_@reddit

I choose to focus on the existential threat of China or Russia and not the imagined threat of “narco-terrorists” in Venezuela or Haiti.

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Crumpuscatz@reddit

We’ve been fucking shit up in South America and the Caribbean for over 100 years. Por Que no Los dos?? It’ll be ok, as long as we keep printing 💰😢

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Sorry_Carob_6241@reddit

The military should have upgraded the OV-10 Bronco and not wasted money on this...

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Tripound@reddit

I think they are very likely to occur. Adversaries find it safer and cheaper to deal death by a thousand cuts.

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undockeddock@reddit

Yep. So far MAD has held and kept a great power war from happening. But proxy wars are not dead

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Js987@reddit

Bingo.

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Serpico2@reddit

God I wish they would, but it looks like we’ll be in another one with Venezuela ffs

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samdamaniscool@reddit

Thats life. If it ain't the jungle, its the sandbox

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COMCAST_BOT@reddit

Unless you have a couple hundred of them in a swarm being flown autonomously

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crimedog58@reddit

Small wars have been the rule, not the exception.

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Patsfan618@reddit

Perfect plane for uncontested airspace. You don't need the speed of a jet and it's cheap so you can make/buy a bunch of them.

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Designer_Buy_1650@reddit

The A-10 can fly almost as slow. What was wrong with it?

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Patsfan618@reddit

Maintenance. Jets are simply more expensive to maintain.

Also, the A-10 is literally built around a gun. It makes no sense to carry a massive auto cannon on an ISR run.

A lot of the customers might not even have use for the cannon because there won't be tanks rolling around their regional battlefields.

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charleyhstl@reddit

You mean a crop duster?

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vartheo@reddit

This doesn't seem like something the U.S. would have a place for. Like drones make this obsolete. This is way to expensive compared to those. And you include a pilot. It makes sense for island countries to have a few of these. Not the U.S... Strange. Just a waste of money. 3 billion for the whole program and 40 million for each of these!!! Insane waste of money for something not needed.

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PanzerKatze96@reddit

Rest in Peace IL-2

Welcome Back IL-2

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Automatic_Tea_2550@reddit

I would have guessed it was from the 1940s.

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Pubics_Cube@reddit

Its only known predator is traffic signs.

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Ausgeflippt@reddit

Looks like the stop sign worked, though.

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Kanyiko@reddit

I can just not take this serious at all, no matter what people say about its capacity.

To me this will always be the ANG's Dusty Crophopper.

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Ausgeflippt@reddit

Why would the ANG have a plane originally called the "Warden"?

Hmm...

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Yes the look is goofy , but 6,000 payload , 4 sensors backed by A.I for targets isn't so bad, and cheap to fly makes it more than meets the eye

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_mynameisclarence@reddit

Would’ve been useful in the GWOT..

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texas1982@reddit

Why do you think we're developing this? Once we topple nations, we plan to give these away to the emerging government of choice to start their infant air force.

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Ausgeflippt@reddit

Nah, the A-37, Super Tucano, A-4, OV-10, BAE Hawk, Alphajet, etc. have been around for ages.

These are for use against Americans.

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cyberentomology@reddit

Farmers can use this for spraying AND dealing with gophers.

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Fold67@reddit

Caddyshack 3 now in the works.

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forgottensudo@reddit

There was a Caddy Shack 2?!?

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AbeVigoda76@reddit

Yes, and it’s fucking terrible. Dangerfield realized how badly it was going to be and kept trying to get Warner Brothers to release him by making more and more money, royalties, and Final Cut rights. It didn’t work and Dangerfield just left the project less than a month before filming started.

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forgottensudo@reddit

Then I feel glad I missed/don’t remember it! :)

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OddDragonfruit7993@reddit

Jackie Mason fills the Dangerfield role.

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cyberentomology@reddit

Not that anyone will actually admit to

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notusuallyhostile@reddit

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Jake24601@reddit

Is much larger than it looks and with the massive turbine in front, looks intimidating to fly.

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comfortably_nuumb@reddit

Cool. It's got an R2-D2 navigator/rear gunner.

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TomKattWasHereB4@reddit

got excited, thought it was a phalanx ciws

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HK47WasRightMeatbag@reddit

That astromech is almost certainly a CP-1P. They have an extra blood lust making them perfect for COIN missions.

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jdb326@reddit

C1-10P

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HK47WasRightMeatbag@reddit

Thank you. I shall now retire to my cave in shame.

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Taskforce58@reddit

Serious question: what is that dome for?

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LefsaMadMuppet@reddit

Ku- band satellite antenna for over the horizon communication.

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anactualspacecadet@reddit

Those are just antennas to relay information to awacs/decrease your sperm count.

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Overwatchingu@reddit

Yeah, that’s exactly what the droids in Star Wars do.

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kubigjay@reddit

Bah. I reject your facts and substitute my own.

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Fine_Contest4414@reddit

Adam??

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comfortably_nuumb@reddit

Yay!

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comfortably_nuumb@reddit

Boo!

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undockeddock@reddit

They need to paint one of their demo planes up that way

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Blueberry_Mancakes@reddit

Well, that's it….im trading in the Honda.

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thehotshotpilot@reddit

What Monsanto uses on your farm if your crops cross pollinate.

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abscissa081@reddit

When you keep 1 seed on accident

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cplchanb@reddit

Looks like Dusty really landed a Gucci gig

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BallewEngineering@reddit

I know the test pilot in the 5th photo lol.

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JediMineTrix@reddit

The Opp Duster™

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aka_Handbag@reddit

How does one pronounce that name? Le Harris?

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Visual-Constant-4815@reddit

Must be a blast to fly

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majorcaps@reddit

I don’t understand - where’s the massive gun that’s as big as a transport truck with an airframe wrapped around it?

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Deter86@reddit

Dusty Crophopper joins the Air Force

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stormdraggy@reddit

Dusty Crophopper gets in a firefight.

Dusty Crophopper gets his wings blown off.

Dusty Crophopper deals with VA bullshit.

Dusty Crophopper suffers from PTSD.

Dusty Crophopper writes an autobiography.

Dusty Crophopper ODs on high-sulphur diesel.

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Deter86@reddit

“Your injuries spraying agent orange are not service”

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SummerInPhilly@reddit

Fun fact: just three of these can carry as much payload as a WWII era B-17, and the range and max speed aren’t even much less

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jay_in_the_pnw@reddit

presumably the difference is that the b-17 also carried the gunners and guns to defend that payload, but out of my own general ignorance, I do wonder how these would stack up against most wwii fighter bombers in terms of maneuverability, range, payload

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Ataneruo@reddit

Turning plowshares into swords.

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Nytfire333@reddit

This looks like a plane with all its unlocks on something like Far Cry. I’m sure it will be equally devastating

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avinaut@reddit

Am I a joke to you? -attack helicopters

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sixdemonbag79@reddit

Time to really fuck up some crops

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EdwinMcQ@reddit

$3 billion contract for 75 planes. $40 million a plane?

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olcrazypete@reddit

So is this the same role as the A-10 or something slightly different?

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Its designed to support the Special Forces in overwatch with surveillance and attack capabilities

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Outrageous_Cut_6179@reddit

Plowshares into swords.

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just_jason89@reddit

Which Air Force?

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jfloes@reddit

Do pilots get any say in what aircraft they fly? I understand why this plane was made, but gotta suck if you join the Air Force to fly a raptor or f35 and you end up in this 😬

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

You'll be doing ops with special forces in this, your getting promoted fast

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zipper86@reddit

Same view 5 times.

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RogerRabbit1234@reddit

Dusty Crophopper all grown up.

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Teh_Doctah@reddit

Which Air Force?

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

The US bought a bunch that are already with units

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CarminSanDiego@reddit

And it’s already being divested

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BaronNeutron@reddit

The back-seater should be enlisted

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Prof_X_69420@reddit

Why buy this over the super-tucano?

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Double the payload , 4 sensors including an A.I camera, doesn't need a boat or airstrip

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generictroglodytic@reddit

It’s a sturmovik

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Tight_Hedgehog_6045@reddit

Very Indiana Jones.

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DidNotSeeThi@reddit

The original Douglas Skyraider was famous for it service in both Korea and Vietnam. Over 1000 mile range meant hours and hours onsite and nearly the cargo capacity of a B29 meant lots of ground support options. This is going to be a great add to the smaller combat environments.

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alecks23@reddit

Close enough. Welcome, A-10.5 SchwartDog

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mcnabb100@reddit

The lack of an ejection seat is a needless risk IMO.

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romcomtom2@reddit

Mom can we have close air support? No you have close air support at home.

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Possible-Magazine23@reddit

It looks oddly outdated and modern at the same time!

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domesystem@reddit

Naming it after the Spad gives some real HP "How dare you stand where he stood." Vibes

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WarningPleasant2729@reddit

would.

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jakereynolds12@reddit

Sick

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VampirePolwygle@reddit

It's strange, feel like we are going back in time to the age of tanks.

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outworlder@reddit

What was that bit about ugly planes not flying ?

It's cool. But ugly as a mf

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TheDirtyVicarII@reddit

Now that's crop dusting

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seadotsea@reddit

I got to see it being tested out up close a few years back. Holy mother this thing is loud.

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HotFreighter@reddit

IOMAX makes these

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Batsu_gamur@reddit

Close enough, welcome back IL-2

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DadKnightBegins@reddit

I had no idea it was that big. I thought it was Cessna size.

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TheVoicesSpeakToMe@reddit

Stop sign optional from factory

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

This should be higher 😂

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Cold_Ad_2160@reddit

40 million dollar target. Low and slow makes it vulnerable to small arms fire. Houthis are shooting down Predator drones with shoulder fired SAMs. Ukraine has learned to defend itself with mobile MG teams for fighting drones that fly at same altitude and speeds as this airplane. Ukraine controls the battlefield with FPV drones requiring a fraction of the cost as these airplanes. Money would have been better spent on drone technology at the unit level.

The Air Force has tried to get rid of A10 for years because it needs a permissive environment and this is less capable.

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mantellaaurantiaca@reddit

They shot down Reapers in the last few years, not Predators. And definitely not shoulder fired.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/358_missile

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kelso-73@reddit

Is it for drones ?

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r23w@reddit

Looks like Lego with all those straight panels

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fighter_pil0t@reddit

20 years late to need, obsolete, and dangerous. Let’s keep wasting money.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Drones are the future, why waste a f-22 when this can blow up drones at a much more cheaper price

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count210@reddit

Check out the unit cost of this vs a drone. It’s going to be very easy for one of these to get rammed by a drone while it’s trying to get gun kills.

Flight hours cost sure but unit price on this thing is insane and makes it very questionable.

This isn’t a counter drone platform anyway it’s a strike platform.

It’s also really fucking slow and it’s going to have trouble getting places quick enough to help out compared to even Vietnam era fighters.

Also it can get shot down by a .50 cal on a truck.

It’s a concept that needs a lot more drawing board time.

It trades far too much for a far too optimistic flight time per hour cost.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

It can carry missles

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count210@reddit

Your contention is that is this is a low cost 48 million dollar aircraft is for shooting down 50k usd drones

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Tr0yticus@reddit

What’s the cost on these?

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count210@reddit

Socom contract is 48 mil per. So more than half an f-35 for a crop duster. And the MIC salesman wept for he had no more worlds to conquer.

(All the the things that make it more expensive than a crop duster are also gonna make it much much more than 1k per hour too)

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ALifelongVacation@reddit

Every pic is from the exact same angle.

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GITS75@reddit

"Love smell of napalm in the cornfield son" (Ik Ik I am waving-off)

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Conscious-Culture-19@reddit

Send them to Ukraine. Start practicing shooting down drones without firing aim 120 missiles.

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RCFLYER86@reddit

Tactical crosser

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airbornecz@reddit

good bye warthog welcome air tractor 🤣

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TT-33-operator_@reddit

Love these planes

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Mimshot@reddit

Glad to see us beating our plowshares into swords again.

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Taptrick@reddit

Sir, your tail is dragging.

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jhonrobin@reddit

Incredible

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KickFacemouth@reddit

20 years too late.

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cat_prophecy@reddit

I'm sure you know better than the team of people involved in procuring and creating this.

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Adjutant_Reflex_@reddit

Because never in the history of US procurement have we royally fucked up? LCS was a mess, Constellation is a mess, M10 Booker, etc. etc.

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KickFacemouth@reddit

1- Throughout GWOT there were constant calls for a light, cheap COIN aircraft ideally suited for that kind of conflict, with ideas to procure something like the AT-6 or Super Tucano. We never got that aircraft, and were left to run our expensive fighter and bomber fleets ragged while being massive overkill for the job they were tasked to do. So yeah, it late for when we really needed it,.

2- The whole anthem for defense procurement these days is "If it can't fight China, we don't want it." They just canceled the E-7 for the USAF because its "not survivable," and we needed that a hell of a lot more than we need this thing. This thing would have zero play in a China fight, or against any decently equipped adversary for that matter. And whether you think that matters or not, they're still applying their logic very inconsistently by procuring this.

3- The idea that the people making decisions about weapons procurement always know best and act purely out of logic and can't be swayed by bias or politics or graft is laughable to anyone who's actually studied the subject.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

This is used by special forces groups, why would you spend all that money to fly and risk an F-22 or F-35 to blow gangs in South America, or terrorists in the mountains, or pirates off of Africa when this can do it a million times cheaper and can use Hellfire missiles and all the big firepower for cheap, etc

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Praefectus27@reddit

The operating cost of these is like $1k an hour vs an f-35s $42k per hour. It’s a great use of our tax dollars to project power in areas where we maintain air superiority.

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

Bingo! Why waste an f-35 or F-22 engine life when you can use something cheap like this

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Youngstown_WuTang@reddit (OP)

!!??? Ukraine and Russia use planes like this to great effect against drones and surveillance. They show things that people think are obsolete have a role in today's war

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Even_Opportunity_639@reddit

what is the orange protrusion on the starboard wing?

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floodblood@reddit

given where we are with next gen fighters, i think this is one of the coolest set of wings this decade

think about it. who doesn't love flying and know they'll never pilot an f-22 but they'll see this and think, "i can top gun the SHIT outa that little thing though"

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One-Sundae-2711@reddit

the new bat 21

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airport-codes@reddit

IATA	ICAO	Name	Location
AGR	VIAG	Agra Airport	Uttar-Pradesh, India
GBU	HSKG	Khashm El Girba Airport	Khashm El Girba, Sudan

I am a bot.

^(If you are the OP and this comment is inaccurate or unwanted, reply below with "bad bot" and it will be deleted.)

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CalendarTemporary@reddit

stupid bot

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phovos@reddit

Lmfao why would they even talk about this, other countries are showing 6th gen fighters FLYING and we are showing civilian terror planes lol what is this trash it looks like the plane a terrorist group might make with a couple million dollars?

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Js987@reddit

The majority of the conflicts worldwide, let alone that the US gets involved in, are low-intensity conflicts where a low volume COIN aircraft of comparatively low cost and simplicity fits the bill far better. The fact that this exists isn’t detracting from the need for a sixth gen fighter, it’s for an entirely different role. It’ll also do well on the export market, if the Super Tucano is any indication, as plenty of smaller countries need aircraft of this type.

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