Textron company Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) has been selected to provide two U.S. Air Force bases with adversary air live training under the Combat Air Forces (CAF) Contracted Air Support (CAS) program. The combined awards provide for over 3,000 sorties per year for up to 4.5 years, which will be provided by ATAC’s fleet of ex-French Air Force Mirage F1 fighter aircraft and are expected to commence by Fall 2020. Under the awards, worth up to a combined $240 million, ATAC will provide adversary air live training to pilots at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The awards are part of an initial round of 5 operating locations the Air Force has selected under the CAF CAS program, with the Air Force stating its intention to contract for such services at up to 22 operating locations: 12 for adversary air and 10 for contracted close air support. ATAC provides tactical flight training and adversary aggressor services for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, including live military air-to-air, air-to-ship, and air-to-ground training and support services. ATAC comprises the world’s leading civilian-provided, tactical airborne training organization and proudly provides the highest quality live training to squadrons, Air Wings, and Battle Groups.
ATAC’s purchase of the F1s marks the largest global sale of such aircraft to a private company. ATAC intends to upgrade the Mirage F1 fleet with sophisticated avionics and training systems in order to meet the training requirements of U.S. service men and women in future U.S. Department of Defense adversary air support contracts. In July 2017 ATAC purchased 63 former French Air Force Mirage F1 aircraft from the government of France. Included in the purchase were several million spare parts, ground support equipment and over 100 spare ATAR 9K50 engines. ATAC-ACE began operating in February 2018 and has commenced preparations for future maintenance, operations and pilot training associated with the Mirage F1 aircraft.
ATAC is the global leader of tactical airborne training, having pioneered much of what are now contracted air services industry standards with a fleet of over 90 aircraft, over 60,000 flight hours, and 20 years of operating experience. ATAC has provided a wide range of contracted air support capabilities to the U.S. Department of Defense in locations world-wide, including the Continental United States, Hawaii and the Western Pacific region. ATAC has helped train crews from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps and regularly operates out of as many as 25 different air bases per year.
