L3Harris Technologies and Air Tractor announce Sky Warden aircraft
Sky Warden is based on the rugged and capable Air Tractor AT-802, which features the largest payload capacity of any single turbo engine aircraft. (Photo: L3Harris Technologies)
L3Harris Technologies and Air Tractor have announced a collaboration to produce the AT-802U Sky Warden aircraft.
Sky Warden is an affordable, production-ready aircraft designed for airborne ISR and other missions in extreme combat environments.
The aircraft is based on the rugged Air Tractor AT-802, which features the largest payload capacity of any single-engine turboprop aircraft.
It is equipped with L3Harris’ family of communications, sensors and airborne ISR solutions. The platform is backed by the company’s turnkey ISR operation experience.
The multi-mission platform provides the operator agility and flexibility to identify, track and react to counter threats.
It combines the capabilities of larger ISR with that of armed aircraft.
It is capable of takeoff and landing on unimproved airstrips, allowing the aircraft to be deployed and co-located with special mission operators.
President of Air Tractor, Jim Hirsch commented ‘Air Tractor aircraft were developed precisely to operate in austere environments with limited infrastructure’.
Sky Warden combines the heritage of the A-1E Sky Raider and the U-28, which uses the callsign ‘Warden’, to collapse the stack, providing one aircraft capable of multiple mission roles.
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