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The OA-1K Skyraider II: Revolutionizing Armed Overwatch

Updated: Jul 23



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It's more than just a photograph: it's a declaration of intent. The rugged tail-dragger aircraft roars along the Florida coastline, trailing the waters just off Hurlburt Field. In the background, Air Force gunships and transports sit idle as this improbable newcomer - bulky, bristling with sensor turrets and armaments - slices past the headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).


“That was my idea,” says retired Air Force Colonel Craig “Buck” Walker, one of the driving forces behind the OA-1K Skyraider II. “I wanted the team at AFSOC to see what we’d built - and to know it wasn’t just another PowerPoint plane. It was real. It was flying.”


The Skyraider II originated from a modified agricultural airframe. It was originally dubbed “Sky Warden” by the company that created it, L3Harris. Today, it is the U.S. military’s latest tool for armed overwatch. This mission blends intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and precision strike, all while supporting Special Operations Forces (SOF). But its roots are humble: a crop duster, a firefighting bird, and an underdog armed for battle.


Walker, a former AC-130 gunship pilot and Weapons Squadron commander, helped transform that underdog into a battlefield asset. It solves one of SOCOM’s toughest problems: delivering persistent, lethal, and responsive airpower in remote corners of the world.


The Challenge of No Air Support in Critical Times


The need for Armed Overwatch rose from unfortunate realities. On October 4, 2017, a Green Beret team was ambushed in Niger. The incident claimed the lives of four American service members and four Nigerien troops. This became known as the Tongo Tongo ambush. The fallout was severe: investigations, finger-pointing, and a sobering realization across the U.S. military. The truth was simple—there was insufficient responsive air support for SOF teams who operated far from traditional battlefields.


“It was a wake-up call,” Walker reflects. “And it wasn’t just about that one event. The truth is, AFRICOM and SOUTHCOM are consistently under-resourced concerning air assets. When I commanded a task force in Africa in 2013 and 2014, we had huge operations but almost no strike capability. I had to beg, borrow, and steal for RPAs and maybe a couple CV-22s. That was it.”


Africa is vast. It’s nearly three times the size of the continental U.S. A drone or fast jet, operating from a safe base, can take hours to reach a target. Most combat aircraft aren’t designed to loiter overhead for long periods, nor to land on unpaved airstrips close to the fight. As great-power competition shifts focus to the Indo-Pacific, support for small-footprint operations in hard-to-reach areas becomes a tough sell.


Yet the mission remains unchanged.


“Special Operations guys are still out there,” Walker says. “And they still need someone watching overhead. Someone who can strike. Someone who won’t leave them hanging.”


Building the Skyraider II: A Game-Changing Solution


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The solution from SOCOM was to hold a competition. In 2020, they launched the Armed Overwatch program. They sought a rugged, versatile aircraft that could carry sensors and weapons, operate from austere airfields, and perform ISR and strike missions with just two crew members.


Five aircraft were selected for trials. These included the Textron AT-6E Wolverine, the MC-208 Guardian, and a revamped version of the Polish M28 Skytruck. However, one contender stood apart due to its simplicity, endurance, and payload: a heavily modified AT-802U from Air Tractor, enhanced with avionics and military expertise from L3Harris.


“It’s a farm plane, yes,” Walker laughs. “But that’s the beauty of it. Millions of flight hours. Proven durability. You can land it in a field, load it up, and be airborne again in minutes. That’s exactly what we needed.”


From this collaboration emerged the OA-1K Skyraider II. It features a redesigned wing that can carry 6,000 pounds of ordnance. It has hardened landing gear for unpaved strips and a modular belly pod that can house advanced mission systems and sensor integration gear.


“It has three visual sensors—two 20-inch and one 15-inch MX-series turrets. It’s also provisioned for a fourth, a radar pod developed in the UK by Thales,” says Walker. “That gives you incredible flexibility. You’re not just tracking a guy—you’re watching who he talks to, where he’s been, and what routes he’s used. You can even go back in time.”


Most impressive of all? The Skyraider II can fly for nine hours on internal fuel alone.


Collapsing the Stack of Air Support


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In conventional combat zones like Iraq or Afghanistan, a single SOF raid often required a complex airpower “stack.” This stack included ISR drones, fast jets, gunships, tankers, and battlefield coordination officers. Many personnel, aircraft, and systems were needed—all synchronized for a single target.


“Sometimes we had 21 people in the stack for one objective,” recalls Walker. “And behind that? Tankers, mission planners, intel analysts. It was massive.”


In contrast, the OA-1K Skyraider II was designed to condense that entire stack into a single aircraft, operated by just two people. It combines multiple sensors, weapons, secure communications, and real-time data processing.


“Think about it,” Walker explains. “Instead of five different aircraft each doing one thing, you have one platform that can track, surveil, designate, strike, and communicate with everyone. That’s not just efficient—it’s revolutionary for how SOF operates.”


The ability to federate control of the aircraft’s sensors adds to its versatility. Operators on the ground or in remote command centers can take over certain systems. “You can push control of a sensor to a JTAC on the ground,” Walker explains. “Or to the JOC back at HQ. That kind of networked control is a huge force multiplier.”


Inside the aircraft, the cockpit was designed to accommodate this complexity without overwhelming the crew. Sensor data is fused to help the crew manage the battlespace. The sensor operator has large landscape displays for managing multiple video feeds simultaneously. The pilot has direct access to autopilot, communications, and strike controls, along with a helmet-mounted display (HMD) providing augmented situational awareness.


Versatility Meets Survivability


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Some critics raised concerns about the Skyraider II’s survivability in hostile environments. The aircraft lacks ejection seats and isn’t classified as stealthy. This has led to worries regarding its vulnerability to ground fire.


Walker is unapologetic: “Neither does the U-28. Neither did the AC-130. We flew into bad places with no ejection seats for decades. You build in survivability through intelligence—by employing redundancy, rugged design, and proper mission planning.”


The Skyraider’s PT6A-67F engine is one of the most reliable turboprops ever built. Recently, in a training sortie, a Skyraider II suffered an in-flight engine failure. The crew glided the aircraft safely into a dirt field. It was towed back to the hangar, the engine replaced, and the aircraft returned to flight status without any airframe damage.


“The landing gear didn’t even break,” Walker exclaims proudly. “Try that in a fast jet.”


This platform’s simplicity makes it easy to maintain and deploy. At trade shows, L3Harris demonstrated how the wings could be removed, transported, and reassembled in hours. The entire aircraft can be loaded onto a C-17 and deployed to a remote forward operating base with minimal support.


“It was designed from the start to be expeditionary,” Walker insists. “And it shows.”


Walker also praises the competition. “Every platform had talented individuals working on it. I know most of them—former operators, aviators: true professionals.”


The Bronco II, developed by Leidos and Paramount Group, was an agile twin-boomer based on South African designs. It showed promise but faced a bizarre mechanical failure that removed it from the competition. Textron’s AT-6E Wolverine was a strong performer but raised concerns about operating in sandy, austere environments. Other contenders, like the MC-208 and MC-145 Skytruck, had performance or configuration challenges.


“Look, we all wanted the best platform to win,” Walker states. “But Skyraider had the endurance, the weapons, the sensors, and the ruggedness. It wasn’t even close.”


From Legacy to Leap Forward: Honoring Heritage While Advancing Tech


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The aircraft’s name isn’t coincidental. The OA-1K Skyraider II honors the A-1 Skyraider, an iconic Vietnam-era warplane known for loitering, enduring damage, and delivering close air support to troops in need. Pilots affectionately dubbed it “Spad,” and ground troops appreciated it for its reliability under fire.


The modern Skyraider carries that legacy—now equipped with 21st-century systems and AI-driven mission capabilities. “We wanted to honor that legacy,” Walker explains. “But we also aimed to break new ground.”


And it has. In addition to its roles in Africa and other theaters, AFSOC leadership hinted at using the OA-1K in the Indo-Pacific. This region poses unique logistical challenges due to its geography. The aircraft’s long endurance, dirt-strip capability, and potential to carry small cruise missiles make it an intriguing option for unpredictable forward basing and gray-zone conflict.


“This platform can excel in that kind of fight,” Walker notes. “If you can deploy Skyraiders on random dirt runways in the Philippines, you’ve changed the game.”


Eyes in the Sky, Brains at the Edge: Advanced Technology at Work


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A quietly revolutionary feature of the OA-1K Skyraider II is what Walker calls “edge processing.” This means the aircraft doesn’t just gather data; it interprets it in real-time.


“There’s an AI system monitoring the video feeds,” Walker mentions. “You could track a village, and the system will notify you: ‘Hey, you asked about a white Toyota 4Runner with a dented fender—I found it.’ Then it can even ask if you want to see its movements over the last two hours. That capability changes everything.”


This function addresses a challenge within modern military intelligence: information overload. The Department of Defense often refers to this as the “data lake”—a vast pool of raw data that demands significant human resources for processing and analysis. However, the Skyraider II performs much of that onboard. It fuses sensor data, correlates signals, and presents actionable insights.


“You have personnel at a JOC staring at 30 feeds struggling to make sense of everything,” Walker articulates. “Skyraider helps cut through the noise. It converts raw data into useful information before it ever leaves the plane.”


And what if the satellite connection fails during a peer conflict? No problem. The Skyraider can still deliver results by making localized decisions, independent of cloud processing or remote servers. This is a vital advantage in scenarios where communications may be jammed or compromised.


The Future of Armed Overwatch: A New Era Beckons


In 2022, SOCOM announced that the Skyraider II had won the Armed Overwatch contract. The program anticipates up to 75 aircraft, reflecting the ongoing need for coverage in AFRICOM and SOUTHCOM, along with future contingencies in the Pacific, Eastern Europe, or Central Asia.


By 2023, the OA-1K achieved initial operational capability. Although deployment details remain classified, several aircraft have participated in live-fire exercises and operational trials across the continental United States and overseas.


AFSOC’s commander, Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, has publicly discussed the aircraft’s future. This includes ambitions to incorporate new munitions, like low-cost, swarming cruise missiles such as the Leidos Black Arrow and the Air Force’s Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV). These weapons, which cost significantly less than traditional standoff munitions, could dramatically alter the dynamics of precision strike.


“Now we’re discussing 100 cruise missiles in a C-130,” Walker notes. “Imagine putting even a handful of those on a Skyraider. You’ve transformed a prop plane into a strategic asset.”


As SOCOM’s traditional airframes—like the CV-22, AC-130, and MC-130—age and missions evolve, the Skyraider II may increasingly become the go-to asset for SOF teams conducting operations in austere or denied environments.


Even as a civilian, Walker speaks with the conviction of a commander. He carries the weight of experience leading combat missions where decisions were measured in seconds—and mistakes were paid for in blood.


When he talks about the Skyraider II, pride blends with perspective.


“This isn’t a silver bullet,” he cautions. “You won’t use it against S-400 sites or to engage a MiG directly. That’s not the intention. The goal is to be present when others cannot be. To safeguard our forces when they are pushed to the edge of the map, far from assistance.”


And to do so efficiently, affordably, silently, and reliably.


“I used to fly with a B-52 overhead in Afghanistan 24/7. We burned 11 million pounds of fuel a day to keep it there,” he says, shaking his head. “Skyraider presents a different approach: One airplane. Two people. Multiple sensors. Precision weapons. Nine hours on station. That’s a capability you can’t ignore.”


He smiles and adds, “And if you need to land on a dirt road and refuel with a gas can? Go for it. It won’t complain.”


The Legacy Continues: A New Dawn


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The Vietnam War saw Sandy pilots fly their Skyraiders low. They loitered, struck hard, and returned home riddled with holes—but still flying. The OA-1K Skyraider II carries on that tradition—not as a relic of the past, but as a tool for the future.


Built from the foundations of a crop duster and the ingenuity of special operations pilots, it reminds us that innovation doesn’t always stem from sleek stealth jets or billion-dollar programs. Sometimes, it comes on big tires, on dirt roads, with 6,000 pounds of kinetic capability slung under crop duster wings.


And sometimes, that’s exactly what the mission calls for.


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