Popular Mechanics: America’s Next Warplane Could Be African
Africa’s first warplane seeks to enter the Air Force’s OA-X aircraft program.
America’s next warplane could come from a rather unlikely place: Africa. The South African Mwari aircraft, the first warplane entirely designed and developed in Africa, has been rebranded as the Bronco II for the American market and is seeking to join the U.S. Air Force’s ongoing competition to pick a new light attack aircraft.
Originally known as, or AHRLAC, or Advanced High Performance, Reconnaissance Light Air Craft, Mwari was developed by two South African companies, Aerosud and the Paramount Group, as an inexpensive but capable aircraft to equip Africa’s air forces. The aircraft first flew in 2014 and in 2016 the developers announced an agreement with U.S. defense giant Boeing to develop an “integrated mission system” for the Mwari, with an emphasis on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and light strike. This likely includes such Boeing weapons as the GPS-guided Small Diameter Bomb.
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WNU Editor: I am sure this plane is very deadly .... but it's appears to look like a toy.
