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Monday, April 21, 2014

Textron Airland Scorpion Clearing Flight Envelope

The new plane, built as a joint venture and intended for the light-attack and/or ISR market, has logged 50+ hours so far.  The picture at the link below leaves me quizzical, though.  It has lots of room on the wing for muntions, so I get the light-attack, but there doesn't look like there is a lot of room for the radar, which would presumably be AESA to optimize it for the ISR role.  The sad fact of life is that the "built on spec" fighter is basically an "unsolicited proposal" on steroids.  Northrop tried that with the F-20 about 30 years ago, and all it succeeded in doing was forcing General Dynamics to hold the line on F-16 Air Defense Fighter bid costs.  Good luck with this, Cessna...

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ain-defense-perspective/2014-04-15/textron-airland-scorpion-logs-50-flight-test-hours

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