Air Force Tests Rapid Assembly of New Special Operations Aircraft

Air Force Special Operations Command is testing whether its new OA-1K Skyraider II can be taken apart, packed inside a cargo jet, and reassembled in the field, officials said this week at Special Operations Forces Week. The single-engine, propeller-driven aircraft is a militarized version of the Air Tractor AT-802 crop duster.

It is designed to give isolated special operations teams overhead surveillance and on-call firepower from rough dirt strips with minimal support.

“It is essentially a Swiss Army Knife of airborne capability,” a requirements branch chief told reporters. Rapid disassembly and reassembly means the aircraft can be loaded into mobility aircraft such as a C-5 or C-17 for worldwide deployment within hours, the same official said.

The OA-1K offers a modular solution for armed overwatch and other operations at a fraction of the cost of other platforms, an AFSOC commander stated in a release.

The Air Force currently operates 18 Skyraider IIs and expects a handful more by October, officials said. The aircraft operates from Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma and is planned to operate from Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

The program of record calls for 75 aircraft, but the Pentagon has reduced the funded total to 53. A 2023 Government Accountability Office report found that SOCOM had not justified the larger fleet and recommended a slowdown. The cuts align with a broader Pentagon shift toward potential high-end conflict, where a slow, low-flying turboprop without an ejection seat faces challenges, officials noted.