US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has officially named its newest aircraft, the Air Tractor/L3Harris OA-1K, the Skyraider II after the Douglas A-1 Skyraider that was in service from 1946 until the early 1980s.
AFSOC leadership announced the name of the OA-1K during the Special Air Warfare Symposium in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on 27 February 2025.
The OA-1K, which Air Tractor/L3Harris calls the AT-802U SkyWarden, is a single-engine, single-seat light attack/armed reconnaissance aircraft developed from Air Tractor’s AT-802 agricultural/firefighting platform that won US Special Operations Command’s Armed Overwatch programme. On 1 August 2022 SOCOM announced a USD 3 billion (EUR 2.77 billion) contract to purchase 75 of the aircraft by 2029.
“I am excited about the Skyraider II; I think we have a capability that’s only ours, and we are going to have the ability to shape that into something that the rest of the nation might not even know they need right now,” Lieutenant General Michael Conley, Air Force Special Operations commander, was quoted as saying in an AFSOC press release.
“AFSOC has enduring global missions,” added Brigadier General Craig Prather, AFSOC’s Director of Strategic Plans, Programs and Requirements. “While we don’t expect the Skyraider II to go mix it up with fifth- and sixth-generation fighters, it will provide value to our supported forces globally.”
The Skyraider II is intended as a cost-effective, agile, modular and hardened aircraft that can operate from unimproved or austere airfields. Like the A-1 it was named after – but unlike almost any other aircraft in the current US inventory – it is a ‘taildragger’ (ie has a tailwheel): an undercarriage arrangement that contributes to giving it the capability for short take-offs and landings.
“Providing scalable and precision effects is where the Skyraider II will come in,” said Brig Gen Prather. “The Skyraider II could take on missions from the southwest border to Africa and create dilemmas to those we are in competition with.”
The original A-1 Skyraider, which saw frontline service in both the Korean War and Vietnam War, remained in US service until the early 1970s and was one of the last piston-engined combat aircraft operating in the jet age.
The first operational OA-1K Skyraider II is expected to arrive at Hurlburt Field, where AFSOC is headquartered, in the Spring of 2025.
