combat aircraft

T

HE ROCKWELL OV-10 Bronco

was widely regarded as one of

the most useful and versatile

counter-insurgency (COIN)

platforms to support ground

forces. It’s therefore little

wonder that the similarly conigured

twin-boom Bronco II was named as

such as it emerged as a platform to

potentially meet niche US special forces

and troop support requirements.

The Bronco II concept dates back

nearly a decade as part of the South

African Advanced High-performance

Reconnaissance Light AirCraft (AHRLAC)

program. Paramount Group International

revealed it as an entrant to the US

light attack and tactical intelligence,

surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)

market in February 2018.

Although developed by South African

company Aerosud and now Paramount,

the aircraft will be marketed in the US

by Bronco Combat Systems (BCS). It is

based on the two-seat AHRLAC, which

is dubbed the Mwari in its military

guise, and features mission systems

and ISR payloads developed by Boeing.

Depending on the mission, the type

can be conigured to carry a variety of

payloads including electronic (ELINT),

signals (SIGINT) and communications

(COMINT) intelligence equipment.

A prototype irst lew in July 2014 and

was followed by a production prototype,

which took to the air on July 15, 2017.

However, the deal with Boeing to create

an advanced mission system suite for

AHRLAC dates back to September 2014.

Although BCS says the Bronco II was not

developed speciically with the USAF’s

OA-X light attack requirement in mind,

the contractor team believes the aircraft

is perfectly suited to the mission. It says

it also plans to market the machine for

special operations, border patrol and law

enforcement missions and any application

that requires advanced ISR and ind/ix/

inish/exploit/analyze (F3EA) attributes.

Combat Aircraft asked BCS to comment

on its potential in the US market. ‘We

believe that USAF light attack studies

point to a tremendous need at this

moment for new aircraft’, the company

said. ‘Rising operational costs, inite

airframe and engine life coupled with

an almost continual deployment cycle

is precisely why the Bronco II has been

purpose-built; we understand that as a

service the US Marine Corps has been

particularly hard-hit in terms of mission-

readiness, operational tempo, expensive

The Bronco II is an

obscure entrant

into the US military

light attack

conundrum, but one

that offers diverse

capabilities in a

bespoke airframe,

and at lower cost

than most other

offerings.

REPORT Jamie Hunter

http://www.combataircraft.net // November 2018 25