Could CUAS demand open a new market for armed trainer aircraft?
AGR-20 APKWS laser-guided rockets being loaded onto the A-10C Thunderbolt. (Photo: Air National Guard)
As affordable counter-drone solutions become a military priority, repurposing training aircraft could emerge as a credible option to prepare for emergency scenarios.
During WW2, Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) formed a plan to counter a Nazi invasion by arming transport and training aircraft to fight them on the beaches. This plan, known as Operation Banquet, was never implemented, but introduced a key concept of repurposing non-frontline platforms to generate mass in a time of necessity.
Fast-forward to July 2025 and Conservative MP Mark Pritchard asked the then-UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey: “What thought has been given to the use of the RAF’s Tucano aircraft, which I think are now out of service? I wonder where they are. Could they be redeployed? Could
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