Making its public debut at the Dubai Airshow is the Air Tractor AT-802i, an agricultural aircraft heavily modified for counter-insurgency/light attack/ISR missions. The aircraft were purchased by the UAE with a mission system integrated by Iomax, and it is believed that a batch of 24 is nearing the end of delivery after the first arrived at the end of 2010. The U.S.-based company has now migrated the mission system from the Air Tractor AT-802 to the outwardly similar Thrush 510P airframe and launched the aircraft as the ArchAngel at this year’s Paris Air Show. Any future purchases would most likely employ the Thrush platform.
A variety of weapons is available for the AT-802i, the aircraft on display here being shown with GBU-12 laser-guided bombs on two of its six under-wing hardpoints. A centerline fuselage hardpoint carries a FLIR Systems EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared) turret on Iomax’s flexible pod system. This not only mounts the sensor ball in a low position to avoid interference from the propeller and undercarriage, but also includes datalinks for downlinking imagery; a self-contained GPS receiver; and an interface to the aircraft’s mission system. The pod can also be fitted with defensive countermeasures as an option.
More In Aircraft
