A slow-moving plane vulnerable to sophisticated anti-air defenses is of questionable use in the Indo-Pacific. Fortunately, the OA-1K is a versatile aircraft.
Last month, the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) accepted delivery of its first OA-1K Skyraider II, a propeller-driven light attack aircraft designed for close air support and ISR during counter-insurgency and other lower-intensity operations. But the Air Force is already looking ahead to whether or not the OA-1K can be adapted for wider application—and whether it will have any role in a great power conflict with China.
One Air Force official, speaking to The War Zone under the condition of anonymity, suggested that the OA-1K’s role was likely to evolve.
“The way that the OA-1K will look on Day One is not how probably the OA-1K will look on Day 1,000,” the official said. “As we field it, it will continue to iterate based on the requirements that our supported forces articulate to us. We’re intimately involved with all of those forces, even as we speak, on shaping the initial and then also the growing requirements that I’m sure that we will find for that platform going forward.”
Adapting the OA-1K for the Future
The OA-1K is the first propeller-driven attack aircraft to enter service since the A-1 Skyraider was phased out in the 1970s—marking half a century of strict reliance on jet propulsion technology for the U.S. military’s fighter and attack aircraft.
Yet the Air Force felt the timing was appropriate for a propeller-driven renaissance. With the twenty-first century uptick in special operations due to the War on Terror, the Air Force wanted a heart aircraft capable of providing close air support and ISR—something capable of flying low and slow, taking off/landing from anywhere, and keeping costs down. The propeller-driven OA-1K was deemed the solution.
Ironically, the OA-1K may have entered service at precisely the wrong time. As the War on Terror winds down, U.S. strategy appears to be refocusing on great power conflict for the first time in a generation. With this in mind, a slow-moving plane vulnerable to sophisticated anti-air defenses is of questionable use—and Air Force officials are reconsidering the application of their new OA-1K fleet.
The OA-1K Might Have Other Uses
Fortunately, the OA-1K is a versatile aircraft. According to the anonymous Air Force official, the OA-1K “was designed to be very flexible. A big element of the platform is, again, this notion of modularity, open systems architecture. What that does for us is, on a given mission, you might out certain types of capabilities [on the aircraft]—those could be ISR capabilities…strike capabilities—you may have more of one than the other, depending not on the day or the mission requirement of the supported force. But then the next day, that may change, and you can rapidly swap out what the capabilities are of the platform on a given mission.”
Will modularity allow the OA-1K to make a contribution in an Indo-Pacific based conflict? If U.S. intelligence projections, which suggest Chinese air defenses will become increasingly more sophisticated in the coming years, perhaps with anti-air missiles boasting a range of up to 1,000 miles, will non-stealth aircraft like the OA-1K survive?
Here, again, the OA-1K’s relative lack of sophistication comes in handy. “The OA-1K’s deployability and small operational footprint could help make it difficult for enemy forces to target,” The War Zone reported. “The aircraft might also be useful for providing more localized force protection and surveillance around forward operating locations like island outposts, which could include counter-drone patrols.”
Regardless, one thing seems likely: the OA-1K may not be used exclusively in the manner for which the aircraft was procured.
About the Author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the U.S. Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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