Evaluation of AFSOC’s unconventional Skyraider II continues at Eglin AFB

The newest aircraft in Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the OA-1K Skyraider II, continues developmental testing at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida, to ensure it can meet operational requirements, the US Air Force (USAF) announced on 30 July 2025.

The USAF’s 96th Test Wing, in co-ordination with US Special Forces Command (SOCOM), is responsible for the developmental testing of the new aircraft. The test team’s goals are to evaluate the Skyraider II’s military airworthiness, verify manufacturer’s performance data accuracy, and evaluate how effective the aircraft is at its purposed special operations mission.

The OA-1K Skyraider II is a new cost-effective crewed aircraft that will support geographically isolated special operations personnel in austere locations. It has adaptable capabilities for required mission sets such as close air support, precision strike or armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Unsurprisingly for an aircraft chosen for its cost-effective ruggedness, the OA-1K was developed from the Air Tractor AT-802 agricultural aircraft, which was developed into the AT-802U Sky Warden by Air Tractor and L3Harris for SOCOM’s Armed Overwatch programme. After the AT-802U won the Armed Overwatch trial, Air Tractor and L3Harris were awarded a USD 3 billion (EUR 2.6 billion) contract on 1 August 2022 to supply 75 such aircraft, to be known in US service as OA-1K Skyraider IIs. However, SOCOM has since reduced the number of OA-1Ks to be procured as the US Department of Defense focuses back on high-end warfighting capabilities; as of July 2025 45 aircraft were under contract

The first missionised OA-1K was delivered to AFSOC on 3 April 2025.

One rare characteristic of the turboprop-powered OA-1K Skyraider II is that, like the original Skyraider after which it is named but unlike all modern jets, it is a ‘taildragger’ with a tailwheel: a design configuration that has not been seen in USAF service for over five decades.

This feature required the 96th Test Wing evaluators to devise a new methodology to verify its performance.

“There was quite a bit that went into this, from making sure we were compliant on the regulatory side, to ensuring we had the proper operations support for the Skyraider II,” Major Stephen Wakefield of the USAF’s 96th Operations Group was quoted as saying in an air force press release.

This specifically required extra pilot training on civilian AT-802s to learn to fly a taildragger effectively.

So far, test aircrews have performed human factor, handling quality and austere landing mission testing with the OA-1K, with sensor quality and weapons release missions yet to come.