An Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) OA-1K Skyraider II crash landed in a field southeast of Oklahoma City Thursday afternoon. The aircraft was jointly operated by the 492nd and 137th Special Operations Wings and was on a training mission when it crashed near Will Rogers International Airport.
An active-duty Air Force member and a civilian contractor were aboard the aircraft; the Oklahoma National Guard confirmed that neither individual was injured. Oklahoma City Fire Department officials said the plane struck two power poles on impact, sparking a small grass fire that was quickly extinguished.
The OA-1K, a turboprop-powered, tail-dragging derivative of the Air Tractor AT-802 crop duster, is among the newest additions to AFSOC’s fleet. Entering service in April of this year, the Skyraider II is designed for close air support, precision strike, and armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
L3Harris, which manufactures the aircraft, says it can carry up to 6,000 pounds of munitions and sensors across nine hardpoints and operate from rough fields with minimal support. The type is expected to serve as a cost-effective option for special operations missions, with AFSOC planning to acquire 75 aircraft.
Developed from the company’s earlier Sky Warden platform, the OA-1K combines a Garmin G3000 glass cockpit, advanced communications systems, and multiple electro-optical/infrared sensor pods.
“The aircraft was identified as a platform that could combine ISR capabilities with light attack missions in one affordable package,” L3Harris chief test pilot Clint Logwood said in a May interview with The War Zone.
The Air Force has not yet released details about the cause of Thursday’s accident, which remains under investigation.
“Anyplace, any time, anywhere” In the braggadocio marketing that has replaced substance at the DoD/DoW was there no one literate left to point out that the first and last words of that sloganeering mean the same thing? And this aerocraft was NOT “built from the ground up to be an intelligence gathering and precision ground attack platform.” It was built from the ground up to spray chemicals down onto the ground and kill boll weevils.