TAMPA, FL -- Air Force Special Operations Command is equipping its OA-1K Skyraider II fleet with the ability to rapidly break down and be reassembled for transport on larger aircraft, AFSOC announced during the annual SOF Week conference.

The OA-1K fleet is meant to provide close air support, precision strike and armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. The first missionized aircraft was delivered in April 2025 and training is being conducted at Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma, according to AFSOC.

By equipping the OA-1K with rapid disassembly and reassembly capabilities, it can be broken down in “a matter of hours” and loaded into aircraft such as a C-5 Galaxy or C-17 airlifter.

OA-1K manufacturer L3Harris is currently on contract for 45 of the 75 aircraft in AFSOC’s program of record, Jason Lambert, the company’s president of ISR, told reporters this week on the sidelines of the SOF Week conference.

The OA-1K has undergone 8,000 flight hours to date, and AFSOC plans to field the aircraft in roughly the first quarter of fiscal year 2028, Lambert said. 

Certification with the Federal Aviation Administration for the aircraft is being done in two phases, with the first phase covering everything on the aircraft from munitions to Electro-Optical/Infrared sensors, Lambert added. The second phase involves increasing its flight envelope to 25,000 feet.

“We’re putting together and doing a certification package on an engine inlet to deal with icing conditions, which will allow that aircraft to go up to the full envelope of 25,000 feet. So we’ll be retrofitting aircraft into that . . . configuration in advance of the aircraft going into theater,” Lambert said.