Military systems integrator L3Harris is closing in on its first export sale for the company’s Sky Warden armed turboprop platform.
L3Harris tells FlightGlobal it is in serious discussions with three unnamed potential customers for the aircraft – a miltiarised version of Air Tractor’s single-engined AT-802 crop duster.
Speaking on 6 May at the annual Special Operations Forces Week conference in Tampa, Florida, Jon Rambeau, president of integrated mission systems for L3Harris, said there is significant interest in the Sky Warden from operators in Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands.
“We think there’s applicability for the aircraft across multiple different customer sets,” Rambeau says, standing beside one of the early production examples of the Sky Warden at Tampa’s Peter O Knight general aviation airport.
L3Harris developed the Sky Warden for the US Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM’s) Armed Overwatch programme, which sought to deliver a low-cost close air support and reconnaissance platform capable of operating from rugged and austere air strips.
The Sky Warden was selected as the winner of that competition in 2022, with an expected programme of record covering 75 aircraft. The US Air Force (USAF) has designated the turboprop as the OA-1K Skyraider II.
L3Harris delivered the first operationally configured OA-1K in April, adding to several AT-802s already turned over to SOCOM for pilot training. The SOCOM officer managing OA-1K procurement says the command has taken delivery of three trainer aircraft and two operational Skyraider IIs.
The air force officer commanding SOCOM’s Detachment 1 aviation test group confirmed on 7 May that government verification testing on the initial OA-1K deliveries began that same day.
Rambeau says L3Harris plans to hand over three more examples by the end of June, with a production rate of 12 aircraft per year.
With SOCOM’s order expected to be completed by 2029, L3Harris is aggressively hunting for overseas buyers to maintain its assembly line in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In addition to the three potential customers in the advanced stages of negotiations, Rambeau says L3Harris is talking to a number of other interested parties – potentially including Europe and the US Air National Guard reserve force.
Although he declines to disclose the price per aircraft, Rambeau says L3Harris is centring its pitch around the Sky Warden’s ruggedness, versatility and low operating cost, which the company disclosed as being below $1,000 per flight hour.
By contrast, Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles and Lockheed Martin strike fighters both cost roughly $18,000 per hour to operate, according to 2021 Pentagon figures.
Even the rugged Fairchild Republic A-10 attack jet, often touted for its low operating costs, carries a bill of roughly $8,000 per flight hour.
Each OA-1K offers nine weapons hardpoints for carrying a range of strike weapons, including the Lockheed AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile, rocket pods for the BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapo System, and GBU-12 laser-guided bombs.
The aircraft is equipped with two L3Harris MX-series electro-optical/infrared sensors and advanced communications equipment for performing medium-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Although SOCOM’s OA-1K programme has been the subject of criticism by US government auditors over the type’s survivability against modern anti-air weapons, special operations leaders at the Pentagon argue they need a dedicated close air support platform that can affordably and reliably back up Washington’s commando forces operating in conflict zones on the margins of the new Great Power competition between the USA, Russia and China.
“That’s obviously much more cost-effective than trying to get a stack of [Lockheed] F-16s, and AWACS and… Strike Eagles up there,” says USAF Colonel Justin Bronder.
Bronder oversees SOCOM’s fixed-wing aircraft procurement office.
Lieutenant Colonel Shawna Mattys, the officer managing Skyraider II acquisitions, says the turboprop offers special operators a flexible close air support option able to ”rapidly deploy to any emerging crisis”. She notes the OA-1K boasts a significantly greater loitering capability compared to traditional tactical jets.
L3Harris says the turboprop has a flight endurance of 8h or more.
The Sky Warden was designed with other special operations needs in mind. L3Harris chief test pilot Clint Logwood says the tail-wheel aircraft features reinforced landing gear, a cockpit strengthened to withstand high-g impacts and requires only 365m (1,200ft) for take-off.
“This thing can land anywhere,” he says during a tour of the Sky Warden in Tampa.
Logwood notes the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-powered type could even be configured for operations from an aircraft carrier by adding a catapult launching point – although L3Harris has not explored or tested such a configuration.
Each OA-1K features a tandem cockpit configuration, with both stations able to fully control both flight operations and the onboard mission systems.
The USAF plans to primarily operate its Skyraider IIs as single-pilot aircraft, with the back seat used for operator training or to lessen pilot workload in some instances.
Logwood says the armed variant of the AT-802 handles exactly the same as its crop duster derivative. The OA-1K features the same engine, flight controls and airframe as the AT-802, with the rest of the aircraft being significantly modified.
Notably, the OA-1K is the first ‘tail dragger’ aircraft in the USAF inventory since the piston-driven Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack turboprop was retired in the 1980s.
That post-World War II-era design saw frontline service in the Korean and Vietnam wars, and has now become the namesake of the modern OA-1K tail-wheel type.
See more photos of the Sky Warden from SOF Week 2025:
