28 May 2019

Embraer remains committed to US Air Force's Light Attack Experiment

by Pat Host

Embraer remains committed to participating in the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Light Attack Experiment (LAE) despite the prospect of a large procurement batch being delayed, if not diminishing.

“If this bid will be reopened again, we’ll be there to compete … and present the best solution to them again,” Jackson Schneider, Embraer defence and security president and CEO, told reporters on 27 May.

Embraer will continue participating in the US Air Force’s Light Attack Experiment (LAE) despite the service opening the experiment to additional aircraft types. (US Air Force)

The USAF recently settled on buying six aircraft, three Embraer/Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) A-29 Super Tucano light turboprop aircraft and three Textron Aviation Defense AT-6 Wolverines. The USAF, when it started LAE in 2017, forecast a possible, but not guaranteed, procurement of a large batch of aircraft to eventually replace the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support (CAS) aircraft, which is regularly targeted by the service for retirement.

The idea was to use more affordable light attack aircraft to perform missions such as CAS instead of using the expensive Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in A-10, as was originally proposed. The USAF, instead, decided to re-wing the A-10, delaying retirement.

But after a pair of long-term experimentation phases, the USAF decided to draw out procurement and, instead, opened future experiments to additional aircraft types such as turbojet and turbofan aircraft.

“They suspended this big offer … but to respect the USAF, they had their reasons for that,” Schneider said.

Embraer remains committed to participating in the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Light Attack Experiment (L...

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