The US may assign its A-29 and AT-6 attack aircraft to a partner country

Just over two years ago, the US Air Force announced the purchase of a limited number of AT-6 aircraft from Textron and the A-29 from Sierra Nevada Corporation.

Now the US Air Force has spoken about the intention to transfer these aircraft to a partner country that will show interest in them, most likely in the form of transfer or sale to other countries.

Currently, the Air Force Special Operations Command and the Air Force Combat Command operate three A-29 Super Tucanos and two AT-6s, respectively.

“They will likely be declared defense surplus, and we will be looking for partners who may be willing to take them,” Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Special Operations Forces (SOF) program executive director Edward Stenhouse said.

Both aircraft were originally proposed as part of the Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft program, which began in 2009.

The program eventually fell victim to budget cuts, but was revived in 2017 as the Light Attack Experiment (LAE) program.

The A-29 and AT-6 were re-entered into the competition and named finalists. In 2020, the Air Force announced the purchase of four aircraft (2 A-29/2 AT-6), followed by a third A-29 a few months later.

The AT-6 was used for experiments, and the A-29 was used as part of the Air Force Special Operations Command’s overseas advisory mission.

Surplus defense products are military assets that can be given to partner countries either at a reduced price or as a grant, and are often given to foreign governments to help with their modernization plans.

Partner countries pay for transportation and delivery of assets, as well as repairs.

The Air Force may also decide to sell used aircraft through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process.

“I think it’s potentially FMS because we have partners right now that fly both the AT-6 and the A-29,” Stenhouse said, noting that he thinks there’s quite a bit of interest in these planes from other countries.