U.S. Eyes Super Tucano for SpecOps Work
By ANDREW SCUTRO
Published: 13 Mar 16:22 EDT (20:22 GMT)
The U.S. Navy's new Irregular Warfare office has been looking at an agile Brazilian observation and ground-attack turboprop to provide an "organic" close air support aircraft for special operations forces.
Under the classified "Imminent Fury" program, the Navy has already leased, tested and armed at least one Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, according to Capt. Mark Mullins, a naval special warfare officer serving as the deputy director of the Navy Irregular Warfare Office at the Pentagon.
"This is a close air support, manned aircraft with a pilot and sensor operator. The idea here is that SOF needs an organic capability that can stick with them while they're doing their mission," Mullins said. "We're not buying them; we're leasing them right now. That's an important point."
Speaking March 12 at an exposition on expeditionary warfare in Virginia Beach, Va., Mullins said the intent is to put four of the single-engine aircraft into the fight as quickly as possible.
"Now we're in an operational pause, trying to figure out how to get to Phase II. We need about $44 million," he said. "Back to the method of venture capitalism, we're working with the Air Force and Marine Corps, socializing it with those guys to see if we can get money invested and get to Phase II, where we're taking four aircraft into theater."
The EMB-314 is flown by the military forces of Brazil and Colombia, according to Christine Manna, communications director at Embraer's office for North America in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
As well, Manna said, Chile bought 12 planes and the Dominican Republic bought eight, but the planes have not been delivered yet.
The Super Tucano has a flight endurance of more than six hours, carries several sensors, can be armed with a heavy machine gun in each wing and has mounts for bombs, cannon and rocket pods, according to Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2008-9.
Calling it a "fascinating piece of kit," Mullins said "the proof of concept" is complete after a year of testing. But he described Imminent Fury as his new office's "most contentious project," mostly due to wariness from naval aviation.
"You can imagine the SOF guys and Marines really love this," he said. "The challenge here, and why it's so contentious, is it falls into the seam where it's really not clear whose bailiwick it is. It's not a marinized aircraft. It doesn't fly off the carrier."
Mullins said the Super Tucano can be landed on an unimproved airstrip such as a road, refueled in minutes and sent right back into the fray.
A briefing slide on the Imminent Fury project obtained by Defense News sister publication Navy Times identifies the need for a "tactical fixed wing [intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance] platform to provide expeditionary, organic Find/Fix/Finish operations for SOF Forces in a maneuverable, long range, low heat signature platform."
The project began following a visit by Navy Secretary Donald Winter with naval special warfare task forces in the Central Command area in October 2007, according to a similar brief.
"It's not about flying in from 1,000 miles away, dropping some thousand-pound bombs and leaving," Mullins said. "It's about working with [the ground force], doing the intelligence preparation of the battlespace, doing a [communication] relay, close air support, eyes on target and if there's squirters leaving the target, keeping up with them and tracking them down and doing [bomb damage assessment] at the end."
Although Mullins said the project is afunding to move forward, a slide in Mullins' presentation indicated it's sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Naval Air Systems Command and the Navy.
"Imminent Fury is a classified Navy initiative to address urgent warfighter needs," said Lt. Sean Robertson, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon. "Initial developmental testing has been promising, and the Navy is currently conducting discussions with our Joint partners on various courses of action as this initiative moves forward."
Mullins delivered an unclassified brief, but details of Imminent Fury remain classified, Robertson said.
The Irregular Warfare office, part of the Navy staff at the Pentagon, was established in July under the direction of Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations. It's headed by Rear Adm. Mark Kenny, a submariner.
"Our goal is to rapidly deliver capabilities and effects," Mullins said. "And we are the CNO's lead for irregular warfare."
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3989159&c=AIR&s=TOP
SUPER TUCANOS PARA LA US NAVY
La US Navy ha creado una oficina Pentágono destinada a la llamada “guerra irregular” cuya primera función es evaluar una plataforma de apoyo aéreo destinada a asistir a las fuerzas de operaciones especiales. Este programa reservado conocido como “Imminent Fury” (furia inminente) al alquilado para realizar distintos vuelos de prueba un Embraer Super Tucano y según los resultados obtenidos, se han mostrados interesados en el avión.
El Capitán Marcos Mullins que es el director adjunto de la US Navy para la guerra irregular, ha mencionado que “esto es lo que necesitamos, apoyo aéreo con una aeronave tripulada y un operador de sensores”. Aclaró que por el momento están alquilando la aeronave y que para pasar a la Fase II del programa necesitan contar con 4 ejemplares valuados en 44 millones de dólares pero por el momento el dinero no ha sido asignado, estudiándose distintas alternativas para poder acceder a las aeronaves a fin de avanzar con el programa.
Mullins remarcó que es una “fascinante máquina”, que puede operar en cualquier tipo de pista de aterrizaje, puede ser reabastecido en escasos minutos y estar rápidamente en acción. Su equipamieto y armamento es más que aceptable , y la autonomía de 6 horas es más que interesante para misiones de éste tipo que muchas veces implica permanecer sobre el objetivo mucho tiempo.
La publicación Defense Times habla de la necesidad de una aeronave táctica de ala fija con capacidades ISR (inteligencia, vigilancia y reconocimiento, baja emisión IR, buena autonomia y capacidad de combate.
Por último Mullis resaltó que es muy difícil realizar apoyo aéreo a una operación especial desde 1000 millas (ello en relación a los UCAV`s), lo ideal es estar cerca, con los ojos en el blanco, realizar inteligencia y adquirir la mayor información posible antes del ataque.
Según varios informes las operaciones especiales de la USN y USMC cuentan con apoyo aéreo dado por los Harrier`s y los helicópteros Super Cobra. Ambos tienen un gran poder de fuego, pero su autonomía se limita a pocos minutos sobre el blanco sin poder realizar evaluaciones del mismo o poder esperar el momento apropiado para realizar un ataque.
Veremos qué sucede con ésta "guerra irregular" que parece que vino para quedarse y donde el Super Tucano es sin dudas el avión que más se adapta a éste tipo de conflicto. No es un dato menor que la USN ya es usuaria del T-6A Texan y dudo que vean con buenos ojos incorporar un modelo distinto para apoyo a operaciones especiales, aunque comparten el mismo motor y docenas de componentes que son proporcionados por EEUU.
