Cropdusters for Close Air Support? This is not the first time that ungainly agricultural aircraft have been shown here, loaded with bombs, guns and rockets. But the two on display here this week have different origins and sponsors than those shown here previously, and very different bona fides.

L3’s Platform Integration business in Waco, Texas, has brought the AT-802L LongSword to Paris and says that “never has something so simple been so effective.” The LongSword is based on the AT-802U agricultural spray plane built by Air Tractor in Olney, Texas, and powered by a P&W PT6A-67F turboprop. This rugged tandem-seat design has been developed into what L3 describes as a “state-of-the-art light strike system.” L3 has added its own mission management system with large-screen display; a Moog Gen 3 weapons controller; and an advanced communications suite. The pilot has a Thales Scorpion helmet-mounted-display, and the cockpit lighting is compatible with night-vision goggles.

Just as important, the two aircrew are protected from ground fire by an armored cockpit, including ballistic glass. And there are other protective structural modifications—self-sealing fuel tanks, armored fuel lines, and a titanium spinner for the propeller. L3 has added defensive systems: the AAR-47 infrared missile warner and the ALE-47 countermeasures dispenser. On its website, Air Tractor says that the AT-802U can go “flying where others would not dare.”

Another change from the basic agplane is that the wing has been extended. There are up to 11 hardpoints underneath the LongSword, with NATO-standard bomb-release units. They can carry a variety of gun and rocket pods, and bombs as large as the 500-lb Mk82. L3’s own MX-15D EO/IR sensor ball occupies a centerline station. The total payload is more than 6,200 pounds and endurance can be more than 10 hours in an ISR-only configuration. These numbers compare very favorably with more conventional aircraft that compete in the close air support (CAS)/light strike market.

Ease of maintenance is another big selling point. Only basic hand tools are required on the flight line. On its website, Air Tractor claims 1.7 maintenance man-hours per flying hour. L3 says that the cost per flying hour of the LongSword is “measured in hundreds of dollars, not thousands.”

L3 achieved its first significant sale late last year, when Kenya selected the LongSword to help fight Al-Shabaab terrorists within its own borders and as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). It may buy up to 12 AT-802Ls plus two AT-504 trainers in a package worth $418 million, including weapons, technical support and program management. In its formal notification of the Foreign Military Sale (FMS), the U.S. Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) said the aircraft could operate much closer to the conflict area and would be more “fiscally efficient” than Kenya’s aging fleet of F-5 fighters.

A GAO complaint over the sale was launched by Iomax, the North Carolina-based company that produces a rival agplane conversion for CAS branded the ArchAngel. Iomax was first into this market, having delivered 24 Air Tractor-based aircraft to the UAE in 2010 in a direct commercial sale. But Iomax then switched to a rival American agplane manufacturer as the basis for its conversion. It showed this new version, based on the Thrush S2R-T660 here at Paris in 2013 and 2015, but not this year. Iomax sold a second batch of 24 of these, dubbed the ArchAngel Block 3, to the UAE. They have been used in anger over Yemen, Egypt and Libya.

L3 officials here at Paris told AIN that Iomax’s objection—which is being investigated by Congress—was invalid. In any case, they added, conversions based on the Thrush aircraft offer less payload and endurance. They further noted that L3 has achieved a supplemental type certificate (STC) from the FAA for the LongSword—which is a U.S. Air Force (USAF) requirement before an aircraft can be offered via the FMS system. L3 is eyeing further potential customers for its product in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, they added.

Could the USAF itself become a customer? Next month, L3 will send the LongSword to Holloman AFB, where the service will evaluate several candidates for its potential OA-X requirement. “We could be the ‘low-end’ solution,” the L3 officials told AIN.

And what of the other agplane conversion for CAS that is on show here at Paris, which is also based on the Thrush aircraft, rather than the Air Tractor? Well, that’s another story…