New Skyraider II Swiss Army Knife Joins AFSOC

In latest weeks, in the skies over Iran, we noticed the worth of high-tech as a drive multiplier. American stealth plane and good weapons dealt staggering injury to Iran’s armed forces, to the purpose that all they’ve left are a few boats that are basically water snowboarding speedboats with machine weapons, and a few hundred goblins with AK-47s.

Low-tech performed a vital half in this, too. Once air dominance over Iran was established, which took the USA and Israel about six minutes, our A-10 and B-52s have been working with impunity in Iranian airspace, doing what they do best: Dealing with a drawback by the acceptable utility of high explosives.

Speaking of low-tech, the United States Air Force has not taken possession of 18 of their latest low-and-slow close air assist birds: The OA-1K Skyraider II.

The Air Force now has 18 new gentle assault plane that are designed to assist particular operations forces on the ground, and it expects to obtain “a handful more” by October, said Lt. Col. Robert Wilson, of Air Force Special Operations Command, or AFSOC.

The single-engine turboprop OA-1K Skyraider II is “essentially a Swiss Army Knife of airborne capability,” that can fly armed reconnaissance, close air assist, and precision strike missions, said Wilson, AFSOC’s armed overwatch necessities department chief.

The Skyraider is designed to assist operations that vary from counter-terrorism to “aspects of full-on conflict,” Wilson told reporters on Friday. It is succesful of carrying weapons, including Advanced Precision eradicate Weapon System, or APKWS, laser-guided rockets, and the aircraft also has rails and pylons on its wings so it may be geared up with more superior weapons and sensors in the future.

The new aircraft is called in honor of the A-1 Skyraider of Vietnam fame, also an plane that carried out past anybody’s expectations. 

Read More: BRRRRT Lives On: Air Force Now Extending A-10 Warthog to 2030

The Skyraider II: That Time the USA Turned a Cropduster Into an Attack Plane

The new plane, as I wrote back when it was first launched, is the product of good outdated American ingenuity, in which somebody said, “Hey, what would occur if we caught weapons and rocket pods on a cropduster?“

Now the Air Force has one thing new along these strains: The OA-1K Skyraider II, to be assigned to the United States Special Operations Command. The OA-1K was, we be aware, developed by L3Harris from their AT-802 Air Tractor – a cropduster. And the new aircraft, apart from having a storied title in close-air assist, has lots of functionality in its own proper.

Low tech is all proper. Low and slow, when it comes to close air assist, is downright important. And the Skyraider II is so good at this, that the first gunsight seems to be an over-the-counter merchandise you’ll be able to choose up at any gun store.

Why does this sky raider II have an eotech in the cockpit? pic.twitter.com/ZhH8rQbWQG

— Ganso (@GansoConABomba) November 17, 2025

It seems to be like, despite asking for 75 of these, the Air Force will only be getting 53.

But due to “resource constraints and competing priorities,” a whole of 53 Skyraider IIs are funded under President Donald Trump’s proposed finances for fiscal 12 months 2027, according to AFSOC public affairs.

“The 75 quantity figure is the program record,” Wilson said. “I would say, as the capability sponsor, less than 75 is not desirable. We would like to see it at the program record of 75, but just, just being pragmatic, obviously, with resource constraints that could potentially limit the program less than that.”

The face of warfare is consistently altering. High-tech is great, yes, particularly if the United States ever will get embroiled in a near-peer battle. What the Skyraider II reveals us, though, is that there’s still a place in the stock for one thing like this: An plane that already existed, was already adept at flying low, slow, and making sharp maneuvers; that is, in case you were not conscious of it, primarily what crop-dusters do. All we had to do was arm it.

In World War II, the Soviet Union strapped machine weapons and gentle bombs onto Polikarpov Po-2 biplane trainers. These plane, recognized to their crews as Kukuruzniks – Wheatcutters – and that they had seen pre-war use as not only trainers but, you guessed it, crop-dusters. Armed and flying by night time, these issues made the German troops in Russia maladjusted; their pilots, principally girls, would do issues like change off the engine, glide silently into where a German unit was laagered, and gentle them up with machine-gun fire before buzzing away at treetop stage. If one encountered a German Messerschmitt, one might shake off the a lot quicker German fighter by going into a tight circle that the German pilot could not match. 

There’s a place in battle for these sorts of issues. The new OA-1k is one thing that a Kukuruznik pilot would have regarded at with envy.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s daring management, we’re revered on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on discover.

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