The T-Bird is entering the market for military light counter-insurgency aircraft based on cropduster airframes.
Bulgarian company LASA Engineering is showing a Thrush 510G cropdusting airplane converted for ISR and armed counter-insurgency missions (Static Display A6). LASA says that its product—named the T-Bird—provides “an efficient solution to new asymmetric engagement challenges.” It offers the heaviest payload and the longest endurance in its class, according to the company. L3 is also displaying such a conversion, but one based on the rival Air Tractor agplane (see AIN Paris Airshow News, Tuesday, page 8).
LASA’s display is situated alongside Airborne Technologies, the Austrian company that has specialized in converting small-to-medium-size aircraft and helicopters for ISR missions. Airborne’s Self Contained Aerial Reconnaissance (SCAR) pod is carried by the T-Bird.
