The Air Tractor AT-802 is an American
agricultural aircraft
An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles, they are referred to as "crop duste ...
that may also be adapted into
fire-fighting
Firefighting is a profession aimed at controlling and extinguishing fire. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter or fireman. Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural fir ...
or armed versions. It first flew in the United States in October 1990 and is manufactured by
Air Tractor
Air Tractor Inc. is a United States aircraft manufacturer based in Olney, Texas. Founded in 1978 in aviation, 1978, the company began manufacturing a new agricultural aircraft derived from the Ayres Thrush, S-2B aircraft (designed by found ...
. The AT-802 carries a chemical
hopper
Hopper or hoppers may refer to:
Places
* Hopper, Illinois
* Hopper, West Virginia
* Hopper, a mountain and valley in the Hunza–Nagar District of Pakistan
* Hopper (crater), a crater on Mercury
People
* Hopper (surname)
Insects
* Hopper, the ...
between the engine
firewall
Firewall may refer to:
* Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts
* Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...
and the
cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...
. In the U.S., it is considered a Type III SEAT, or Single Engine Air Tanker.
Development
In its standard configuration, the aircraft utilizes
conventional landing gear
Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...
(two main wheels and a tail wheel). However, a number of aircraft have been converted to the Fire Boss
aerial firefighting
Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to Wildfire suppression, combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers ar ...
configuration, which utilizes
Wipaire
Wipaire is a third-generation family-owned American aircraft manufacturing and repair company, best known for its aircraft floats.
History
The company was founded shortly after World War II by Ben Wiplinger, a veteran of the United States Army Ai ...
10000
amphibious floats, so that it can land on a traditional
runway
In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
or on water. The Fire Boss can scoop water from a lake or river for use on a fire. In addition to the
[AT-802 Fire Boss Factsheet]
at http://www.airtractoreurope.com standard
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
-mounted retardant tank, the Fire Boss can have optional foam tanks in the floats.
[Wipaire Fire Boss Service Manual]
Operations with floats installed have been shown to produce a shorter and narrower retardant drop pattern than wheeled AT-802s.
Armed version

In response to the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
's
LAAR
Laar () is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony. The community’s name comes from the Old Dutch for “glade in the woods”.
Geography
Location
Laar lies northwest of Nordhorn on the German-Dutch border. It belong ...
program and the growing requirement for light
counter-insurgency aircraft
Counter-insurgency aircraft or COIN aircraft are a specialized variety of military light attack aircraft, armed with aircraft artillery and/or portable rockets and designed for counter-insurgency operations, armed reconnaissance, air escort of ...
,
[Trimble, Stephen]
"PARIS AIR SHOW: Cropduster-turned-gunship makes Le Bourget debut"
''flightglobal.com''. 15 June 2009. retrieved 7 November 2010. Air Tractor developed an armed model, the AT-802U, in 2008, with engine and cockpit armor, a bulletproof windscreen,
self-sealing fuel tank
A self-sealing fuel tank (SSFT) is a type of fuel tank, typically used in aircraft fuel tanks or fuel bladders, that prevents them from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged.
Typical self-sealing tanks have layers of rubber and reinfor ...
s, and structural reinforcements for the carriage of of payload. A reinforced wing spar was certified for 12,000 hours of flight time, and the AT-802U was displayed in 2009 at the Paris Air Show.
The AT-802 has also been used in counter-drug operations in the
USSOUTHCOM
The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral in Greater Miami, Florida, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, ope ...
AOR by the U.S. Department of State as a delivery vehicle for herbicides and defoliants over narcotics production facilities.
Ten AT-802i were converted by IOMAX USA into an armed configuration with
Roketsan Cirit
Cirit is a laser-guided 70 mm missile system under production by Turkish arms industry manufacturer ROKETSAN. It is one of the projects launched by Turkey to equip the Turkish Army's T-129 Atak, AH-1P Cobra and AH-1W Super Cobra attack heli ...
2.75" rockets and guided bombs
for the
UAE Air Force
The United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) () is the air force of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), part of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. Its predecessor was established in 1968, when the Emirates were still under British rule. Since then, ...
. The UAE operated them until November 2015
when they were replaced by the first three of 24 Archangels on order from Iomax.
The Archangel is based on a similar cropduster airframe, that of the
Thrush Model 660, however to create the Archangel the basic Model 660 undergoes a much more extensive rebuild in the course of its militarization. Six of the UAE AT-802i were transferred to the
Jordanian Air Force with a further three being transferred to the
Yemeni Government Forces where they have been used in the
2015 Yemeni Civil War.
Reports place Emirati aircraft in Libya flown by contract pilots.
In January 2017, the US State Department approved a deal for twelve AT-802 aircraft for the
Kenya Defence Forces
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) (, stylized as "KENYA ARMED FORCES" capitalized on its coat of arms) are the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. They are made up of the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Force. The current KDF was establ ...
, although as of June 2017 a contract for the proposed sale had not been signed.
On 1 August 2022,
United States Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States A ...
indicated they would purchase up to 75 AT-802U Sky Warden aircraft to support special operations forces in fighting irregular wars. Air Tractor will manufacture the airframes and
L3Harris
L3Harris Technologies, Inc. is an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produces products for command and control systems, wireless equipment, tactical radios, avionics and electroni ...
will then modify them into the Armed Overwatch mission configuration. The planes are intended to perform armed
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
ISTAR stands for Military intelligence, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, #ISTAR, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employ ...
(ISR) missions at low cost in permissive environments from austere locations, and will allow SOCOM to remove the aging
U-28A Draco
The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in addi ...
from combat service. The Sky Warden can deploy guided weapons including the
APKWS
The AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) is a design conversion of Hydra 70 unguided rockets with a laser guidance kit to turn them into precision-guided munitions (PGMs). APKWS is approximately one-third the cost and one-third th ...
rocket,
GBU-12
The GBU-12 Paveway II is an American aerial laser-guided bomb, based on the Mk 82 general-purpose bomb, but with the addition of a nose-mounted laser seeker and fins for guidance. A member of the Paveway series of weapons, Paveway II entered in ...
laser-guided bomb
A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly pro ...
, and
Hellfire and
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...
missiles; it has a six-hour loiter time at a radius. The initial contract is for $170 million, with a ceiling of $3 billion for purchase of the full fleet. The plan is for five squadrons of 15 planes, one deployed at a time, three undergoing maintenance, and one for training. Initial service entry is expected in 2026, with all delivered and full operating capability reached in 2029. The AT-802U was given the military designation OA-1K.
Variants

* – two seat (tandem) cockpit
* – single-seat cockpit
* – two seat (tandem) armored military version, modified with sensors and reinforced for weapons carriage
*
L3Harris OA-1K Skyraider II
The Air Tractor L3Harris OA-1K Skyraider II (company name AT-802U Sky Warden) is an American fixed-wing, single-engine light attack/armed reconnaissance aircraft built by Air Tractor and L3Harris for the Armed Overwatch program of the United ...
– An ISR Strike Aircraft based on AT-802U. The AT-802U was selected in August 2022 as the winner of the
United States Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States A ...
Armed Overwatch
The Armed Overwatch program is an effort launched by U.S. Special Operations Command to purchase roughly 75 crewed, fixed-wing aircraft to perform close air support, precision strike, and ISR missions.https://beta.sam.gov/opp/3de1f580d51b44acaa ...
programme, with an initial buy of 6 airframes.
* or AT-802AF – An
aerial firefighting
Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to Wildfire suppression, combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers ar ...
model 802 equipped with the Air Tractor Computerized Firegate
designed/developed/serviced by Trotter Controls Inc.
– 12 AT-802U (acquired from the UAE in 2016, first spotted in service in January 2018)
;
*
– 14 AT-802F, purchased second-hand from Spain (of which 2 formerly were Fire Boss, but exchanged for standard configuration aircraft) 1 crashed due to mechanical malfunction.
;
*
– 6 IOMAX AT-802i Block 1 being upgraded to armed Block 2 standard, of which 1 upgraded aircraft delivered as of January 2018 and 4 AT-802s supplied by L-3 Corporation and originally intended for Yemen.
;
*Police of Montenegro – 1 AT-802 + 3 AT-802A