Textron Scorpion fighter prototype joins Kansas Air National Guard exercise

[CougarKing]

If I can recall correctly, this plane has also been touted as a lower-cost alternative fighter for third world air forces.

Defense News

In a Marketing Coup, Scorpion Joins Guard Exercise
Aug. 7, 2014 - 02:57PM  |  By AARON MEHTA 

WASHINGTON — The Textron AirLand Scorpion doesn’t yet have a buyer, but that hasn’t stopped the plane from taking part in a major National Guard training exercise this week.

Billed as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) plane with strike capabilities, the jet provided live video feed during Vigilant Guard 2014, which brought several Guard units to Kansas to run through various emergency scenarios.

A non-Guard plane as part of a major exercise? That’s “a first for me,” said Paul Weaver, a former head of the Air National Guard who is now an advisor on the Scorpion program.

So why was Scorpion allowed to participate? For one thing, the company picked up the tab, Weaver said.

It also helped that Kansas is the Scorpion team’s home state. Weaver said that the state’s Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, was aware of the plane sitting in his backyard and had been briefed on its capabilities.

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“It couldn’t have worked out any better. Not only have we talked about the Scorpion being on the cutting edge of ISR capability, but also the cost,” Weaver said.

He said flying costs average around $2,700 an hour.

“So it was mutually beneficial, because we wanted to see what we needed to do and prove what we said we could do, and we have done well beyond that in just these short three days,” Weaver said. “We’re extremely satisfied and happy with what we have.”

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