Textron AirLand–a partnership between Textron Inc. [TXT] and AirLand Enterprises–presented a prototype of its new Scorpion Hero 1 aircraft platform at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space expo this week.
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| Scorpion Hero 1. Photo: Textron AirLand. |
The company has been promoting its new aircraft as a mid-level alternative to high-power jets, which are commonly used in routine homeland security missions at a cost of roughly $20,000-$30,000 per flight hour. Textron AirLand said the Scorpion can perform surveillance, border patrol, emergency relief, irregular warfare, counternarcotics and light air defense for $3,000 per flight hour.
“It’s been built and designed from the beginning to fit in that wide middle space between the price of a military turboprop and–at the other end of the extreme–the higher power, higher importance jet tactical aircraft,” said David Sylvestre, director of corporate communications for Textron.
Sylvestre said representatives from the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard as well as international air forces have all expressed interested in the Scorpion.
“There’s been extremely strong traffic to the exhibit at the AFA conference,” he said.
Although Textron AirLand has not released a price per unit for the Scorpion, Sylvestre said the aircraft saves on cost by incorporating existing commercial technology.
“It doesn’t require the highest military grade equipment,” he said.
“We relied on commercial best practices to develop a tactical jet platform with flexibility and capabilities found only in far more costly aircraft,” Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly said in a statement.
This approach has also meant a faster timeline for production. Development began in January 2012, and the company expects the Scorpion to make its first test flight by the end of this year. It is aiming for low-rate production in 2015.