See the new warplane shown off during Special Operations Forces Week
The Brief
The Sky Warden Skyraider 2 is a relatively small, single-wing airplane that's armed to the teeth to meet any threat.
It's one of many battlefield technologies being shown off at Special Operations Forces Week.
The plane is built with the engine and other systems that have been previously used for years on its crop-dusting cousin, but with special avionics and weapons systems installed.
TAMPA, Fla. - L3 Harris test pilot Clint Logwood lives in St. Petersburg. He's showing off his company's new warplane close to home, in Tampa, during SOF Week: The Sky Warden Skyraider 2.
It's a relatively small, single-wing airplane that's armed to the teeth to meet any threat. It can also land and take-off in a cow pasture.
READ: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at Special Operations Forces Week event in Tampa
"I'm qualified in 88 different aircraft, and this is by far the most fun," smiled Logwood.
Big picture view
It's one of many battlefield technologies being shown off at Special Operations Forces Week. A prime audience for the event is U.S. Special Operations Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base. Nimble and new battlefield technology is top on their wish list.
That's what L3Harris has installed in the Skyraider 2.
Follow FOX 13 on YouTube
"The sensors, the technology is amazing," said Logwood. "We can see from 25,000 feet and read your name tag anywhere in the world."
Dig deeper
The plane is built with the engine and other systems that have been previously used for years on its crop-dusting cousin, but with special avionics and weapons systems installed.
L3 Harris' Systems President Jon Rambeau said it's perfect for close-in air support and reconnaissance missions and specifically designed for missions faced by special operators.
MORE:Palm Harbor WWII veteran finds comfort in new mission at 100 years old: 'Life is golden'
Rambeau said it's far less expensive than a jet fighter and can be easily stowed in a transport plane to be delivered for missions around the globe. He said SOCOM could have 12 of the planes by this time next year.
Rambeau said the Skyraider 2 could also be purchased by U.S. allies. The cost per plane was not announced.
The Source
The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers.
WATCH FOX 13 NEWS:
STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Verge
2 hours ago
- The Verge
Anthropic launches new Claude service for military and intelligence use
Anthropic on Thursday announced Claude Gov, its product designed specifically for U.S. defense and intelligence agencies. The AI models have looser guardrails for government use and are trained to better analyze classified information. The company said the models it's announcing 'are already deployed by agencies at the highest level of U.S. national security,' and that access to those models will be limited to government agencies handling classified information. The company did not confirm how long they had been in use. Claude Gov models are specifically designed to uniquely handle government needs, like threat assessment and intelligence analysis, per Anthropic's blog post. And although the company said they 'underwent the same rigorous safety testing as all of our Claude models,' the models have certain specifications for national security work. For example, they 'refuse less when engaging with classified information' that's fed into them, something consumer-facing Claude is trained to flag and avoid. Claude Gov's models also have greater understanding of documents and context within defense and intelligence, according to Anthropic, and better proficiency in languages and dialects relevant to national security. Use of AI by government agencies has long been scrutinized because of its potential harms and ripple effects for minorities and vulnerable communities. There's been a long list of wrongful arrests across multiple U.S. states due to police use of facial recognition, documented evidence of bias in predictive policing, and discrimination in government algorithms that assess welfare aid. For years, there's also been an industry-wide controversy over large tech companies like Microsoft, Google and Amazon allowing the military — particularly in Israel — to use their AI products, with campaigns and public protests under the No Tech for Apartheid movement. Anthropic's usage policy specifically dictates that any user must 'Not Create or Facilitate the Exchange of Illegal or Highly Regulated Weapons or Goods,' including using Anthropic's products or services to 'produce, modify, design, market, or distribute weapons, explosives, dangerous materials or other systems designed to cause harm to or loss of human life.' At least eleven months ago, the company said it created a set of contractual exceptions to its usage policy that are 'carefully calibrated to enable beneficial uses by carefully selected government agencies.' Certain restrictions — such as disinformation campaigns, the design or use of weapons, the construction of censorship systems, and malicious cyber operations — would remain prohibited. But Anthropic can decide to 'tailor use restrictions to the mission and legal authorities of a government entity,' although it will aim to 'balance enabling beneficial uses of our products and services with mitigating potential harms.' Claude Gov is Anthropic's answer to ChatGPT Gov, OpenAI's product for U.S. government agencies, which it launched in January. It's also part of a broader trend of AI giants and startups alike looking to bolster their businesses with government agencies, especially in an uncertain regulatory landscape. When OpenAI announced ChatGPT Gov, the company said that within the past year, more than 90,000 employees of federal, state, and local governments had used its technology to translate documents, generate summaries, draft policy memos, write code, build applications, and more. Anthropic declined to share numbers or use cases of the same sort, but the company is part of Palantir's FedStart program, a SaaS offering for companies who want to deploy federal government-facing software. Scale AI, the AI giant that provides training data to industry leaders like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, signed a deal with the Department of Defense in March for a first-of-its-kind AI agent program for U.S. military planning. And since then, it's expanded its business to world governments, recently inking a five-year deal with Qatar to provide automation tools for civil service, healthcare, transportation, and more.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Pentagon diverting key anti-drone technology from Ukraine to US forces in the Middle East
The Pentagon notified Congress last week that it will be diverting critical anti-drone technology that had been allocated for Ukraine to US Air Force units in the Middle East, according to correspondence obtained by CNN and people familiar with the matter. The move reflects the US' shifting defense priorities under President Donald Trump – toward the Middle East and the Pacific – and the fact that US stockpiles of some defense components are becoming increasingly stretched. The technology, proximity fuzes for the rockets Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones, was redirected from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) to Air Force Central Command on orders from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to the correspondence dated May 29 and sent to the Senate and House Armed Services committees. USAI is a Defense Department funding program that was established in 2014, when Russia first invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea. It authorizes the US government to buy arms and equipment for Ukraine directly from US weapons manufacturers. The proximity fuzes were originally purchased for Ukraine but were redirected to the Air Force as a 'Secretary of Defense Identified Urgent Issue,' the correspondence says. The notification was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon has in recent months redirected a large amount of equipment and resources to the Middle East, including air defense systems out of the Indo-Pacific Command, amid threats from Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. It is not yet clear what the impact will be of diverting the fuzes away from Ukraine. But the technology has made their rockets more effective against Russian drones, since the fuze sets off an added explosion as the rocket nears the drone. US forces in the Middle East have had to contend with drones, too, however, particularly from Iran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Pentagon diverting key anti-drone technology from Ukraine to US forces in the Middle East
The Pentagon notified Congress last week that it will be diverting critical anti-drone technology that had been allocated for Ukraine to US Air Force units in the Middle East, according to correspondence obtained by CNN and people familiar with the matter. The move reflects the US' shifting defense priorities under President Donald Trump – toward the Middle East and the Pacific – and the fact that US stockpiles of some defense components are becoming increasingly stretched. The technology, proximity fuzes for the rockets Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones, was redirected from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) to Air Force Central Command on orders from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to the correspondence dated May 29 and sent to the Senate and House Armed Services committees. USAI is a Defense Department funding program that was established in 2014, when Russia first invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea. It authorizes the US government to buy arms and equipment for Ukraine directly from US weapons manufacturers. The proximity fuzes were originally purchased for Ukraine but were redirected to the Air Force as a 'Secretary of Defense Identified Urgent Issue,' the correspondence says. The notification was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon has in recent months redirected a large amount of equipment and resources to the Middle East, including air defense systems out of the Indo-Pacific Command, amid threats from Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. It is not yet clear what the impact will be of diverting the fuzes away from Ukraine. But the technology has made their rockets more effective against Russian drones, since the fuze sets off an added explosion as the rocket nears the drone. US forces in the Middle East have had to contend with drones, too, however, particularly from Iran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq.
