Business Corpus: Amid F-35 Vs. F-15 Fight, These Low-Cost Planes Advance Under The RadarThe Air Force plans to buy more propeller-driven aircraft as part of its light-attack experiment, while the F-35 vs. F-15 debate rages among industry, lawmakers and DoD officials. The post Amid F-35 Vs. F-15 Fight, These Low-Cost Planes Advance Under The Radar appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

[Collection]

The Air Force plans to buy more propeller-driven aircraft as part of its light-attack experiment, even as industry, lawmakers and Pentagon officials debate purchases of Lockheed Martin's (LMT) F-35 vs. the Boeing's (BA) F-15X.

Late Wednesday, the Air Force published a notification that it plans to issue a sole-source contract for the A-29 light attack plane from Sierra Nevada and Embraer (ERJ).

The notice said that a formal solicitation will be released later this month and a contract will be awarded in the fourth quarter.

AT-6 light attack craft — Textron's AT-6 Wolverine will also receive a solicitation. (Textron Aviation)

Textron's AT-6 Wolverine will also receive a solicitation, Air Force officials told Defense News, adding that the service still plans to buy two to three of each aircraft for more experiments.

For now, the Air Force has held off on committing to a formal acquisition program and instead is requesting money for more testing in 2020. Meanwhile, Congress has signaled it's open to the purchase of up to 300 light-attack aircraft by 2022.

The A-29 and the AT-6 were the winners of the first round of the Air Force's light attack experiment to quickly field the less costly planes.

New Air Force Planes

Embraer's U.S.-listed shares were off 0.5% to 19.43 on the stock market today. Boeing, which has a commercial joint venture with Embraer, lost 2.5%, Textron fell 2.2% and Lockheed dipped 0.3% amid a broad sell-off sparked by more U.S.-China trade fears.

The idea behind light-attack aircraft is to save money by using them for more routine missions in low-risk environments, and deploy top-of-the-line, fifth-generation aircraft like Lockheed's F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters for missions in more dangerous environments.

Air Force A-29 Super Tucano — The A-29 costs about $10 million each. (U.S. Air Forces Central Command)

The A-29, which at $10 million each costs about a tenth of Lockheed's F-35, is already being used by the fledgling Afghan Air Force and is in service in Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and six other countries.

In addition to acquisition costs, savings on operating costs are also dramatic.

Operating a propeller plane like the Super Tucano, for example, would only cost a few thousand dollars per hour vs. $19,000 per hour for Lockheed's F-16 and $44,000 for the F-35A variant, according to Air Force data cited by the Washington Post.

Follow Gillian Rich on Twitter @IBD_GRich for aviation news and more.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

The Best Defense Stocks For Today — And The Future

IBD Digital: Unlock IBD's Premium Stock Lists, Tools And Analysis Today

Looking For The Best Stocks To Buy And Watch? Start Here

The Big Picture By Investor's Business Daily

The post Amid F-35 Vs. F-15 Fight, These Low-Cost Planes Advance Under The Radar appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.