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AgCat TBIRD vist på Le Bourget i 2017 - Foto: Per Gram

Watchdog challenges SOCOM’s plan to buy new armed aircraft to watch over special ops troops

By 

COREY DICKSTEIN

STARS AND STRIPES • September 9, 2024

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Air Force Special Operations Command received two AT-802U trainer aircraft at Hurlburt Field, Fla., on June 28, 2024. These aircraft will be used to train test pilots in preparation for the new Armed Overwatch (OA-1K) variant. (Ty Pilgrim/U.S. Air Force)

The Pentagon should further analyze the capabilities of the new aircraft that defense officials have selected to watch over special operators working in austere environments and consider slowing its purchase of the planes, a federal watchdog warned in a new report.

The Government Accountability Office — an independent federal auditing agency — warned in a report published last week that U.S. Special Operations Command had yet to complete an analysis justifying its plans to purchase dozens of the new planes, dubbed OA-1K armed overwatch aircraft. The warning follows a similar assessment completed by GAO in December when the watchdog urged SOCOM and the Defense Department to slow the $2 billion armed overwatch program until they could determine precisely how many of the new aircraft are needed.