Bill Sweetman of Aviation Week has taken a closer look at this interesting new player on the aerospace market:
“In person, the Scorpion is quite big. At 21,250 lb. max takeoff weight, it is about the size of the M-346 or a Citation Excel, it carries a 9,300 lb. useful load, and it stands well clear of the ground. As a jet, it offers much greater speed and altitude capability than a King Air or AT-6, Anderson points out.
Now that Textron owns both those aircraft, the Scorpion is not intended to compete with them. Or anything else, for that matter. The Scorpion costs more than its propeller-driven cousins but much less than a fighter: The goals were a $20 million acquisition cost and $3,000 per flight hour. Its niche is to do missions for which air forces today use fighters because that’s what they have, but where the fighter’s expensively acquired air-combat prowess and survivability are unused.”
In this publicity photo from Textron AirLand the “Scorpion” demonstrates its low-speed handling characteristics (as well as its compact size) by intercepting a Cessna 182 light aircraft.
Read the Aviation Week article here.
Visit the “Scorpion” website for further photos and info.