North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco

History of the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco in North America

The North American/Rockwell OV-10 Bronco was developed as part of the U.S. Marine Corps Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (LARA) program to provide the service with a generalist capable of handling both armed reconnaissance and light attack during short periods of time. And run on uneven runways with long waiting times. The NA-300 produced in North America was finally selected for the Bronco in August 1964. Seven YOV-10A prototypes emerged during the development of the NA-300.

The Bronco first flew on July 16, 1965, and was subsequently contracted to produce the first OV-10A models in 1966.

Visually, the Bronco's design is very unique in nature, with a high-position straight monoplane wing assembly with truncated wingtips. Each wing has a down-slung engine nacelle with a three-bladed propeller system.

The landing gear is conventional, with two main landing gear (equipped with a single wheel) retracting into each underside of the engine nacelle and one nose gear (also equipped with a single wheel) retracted forward. The Bronco retained the twin boom layout, extending rearward to two vertical tails connected by high-mounted horizontal tails. The fuselage consists of a central nacelle mounted between the engines and at the center of the wingspan.

Fuselage flanks containing 7.62mm M60 machine gun armament protrude from the lower rear area of ??the fuselage. Sponsors also include the four weapon station hardpoints below.

The USMC was the first US agency to receive the Bronco, which has standard OV-10A and OV-10D night viewing models. Vietnam's combat losses reached 10 units.

The last combat mission of the American Broncos was Operation Desert Storm. Desert Storm proved to be a mix of old and new aircraft technology, with the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter deployed alongside Vietnam-era aircraft like the A-6 Raider, F-4 Phantom, B-52 Stratofortress and OV-10 Mustang. Since the Bronco was originally designed for harsh tropical jungle combat, Desert Storm proved to be a "show experiment" for the Bronco system. Some in the U.S.

Air Force are even reluctant to use the type, fearing that the system will perform poorly in modern conflicts set against the backdrop of unforgiving desert terrain.

Nonetheless, USMC sent their Broncos to Saudi Arabia, where they formed USMC VMO-1 and VMO-2. During the conflict, the first aircraft to be shot down by enemy fire was the OV-10A of the VMO-2. Because this aircraft is a Type A, there are no IR suppressors on the exhaust, so it's a relatively easy option for shoulder-fired heat-guided missiles.

These shoulder-fired mobile missile platforms have not yet posed a technological threat in the Vietnam conflict, so they pose a new threat to the original Mustangs in the Persian Gulf.

Although both pilots ejected safely, they were captured and tortured as Iraqi prisoners of war until the end of the war. A typical Mustang weapons loadout in a conflict includes an AIM-9 Sidewinder to counter threats from enemy aircraft, and missile weapons and their standard machine gun arrays to counter ground elements.

The Broncos also spent time supporting A-6 Raiders and AV-8B Harriers, marking targets with white phosphorus rockets, and scouring the sea for artillery.

During its production period, operators of the OV-10 Bronco also included Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela. Colombia, the Philippines and Venezuela have retained active air missions of this type, while Germany, Morocco and Thailand have since replaced them. The Indonesian Broncos are currently listed as "grounded" and their replacement is imminent.

Some of the U.S.-based, military-based Mustangs went on to serve in other Air Forces and the U.S. State Department in anti-drug positions in Latin America, while others also served as research assistants on NASA programs.

At the time of writing (2012), interest in the OV-10 series is growing so much that there are already talks to restart the production line for domestic and global markets. Boeing is currently considering such plans and would involve a complete redesign of internal systems to bring the Bronco up to date. The revisions will include a fully digital cockpit and support for "smart" guided munitions.

Regardless, the look of the new Mustang will remain in line with its Vietnam-era brethren.

A single Bronco unit is priced at $480,000. Production ended in April 1969.

Rockwell International merged with North American Airlines in 1967 to become Rockwell North America. Any future OV-10 production will fall under the Boeing Integrated Defense Systems umbrella, as much of Rockwell's North American defense business has been sold to Boeing.

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