Jane Edwards
A team composed of L3Harris Technologies and Air Tractor has transitioned to the low-rate initial production phase to build their single-engine light attack aircraft for U.S. Special Operations Command, FlightGlobal reported Saturday.
In August 2022, SOCOM awarded the industry team a potential $3 billion contract to provide the AT-802U Sky Warden platform for the Armed Overwatch program.
LRIP contract covers six lot 1 production aircraft.
L3Harris said at the time of contract award that the aircraft was production-ready and that the team could kick off deliveries within 12 months.
According to the report, SOCOM said training and system requirements have pushed back the full-rate production of the aircraft by three months.
Jim Smith, acquisition executive at SOCOM, said the command asked L3Harris to help improve commonality with ground troops by integrating a different radio into the aircraft.
