Business Insider/Chris Panella
- A US Air Force special ops plane converted from a crop duster crashed in Oklahoma yesterday.No injuries were reported amongst the crew, which included an Air Force active duty personnel and a civilian.The OA-1K Skyraider II is an armed ISR aircraft with close-air support and strike capabilities.
The US Air Force plane that crashed into a field in Oklahoma late Thursday afternoon was a new special operations light attack aircraft that the service first received earlier this year.
The new OA-1K Skyraider II is a militarized version of the well-known Air Tractor AT-802, which is used for agricultural work like crop dusting, or aerial application of pesticides or fertilizer. The Air Force plane supports missions like close air support and armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
The crash occurred Thursday afternoon in southeast Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma Air National Guard. The aircraft and crew were assigned to the 492nd Special Operations Wing out of Will Rogers Air National Guard Base. No injuries were reported among the two people on board, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.
Oklahoma City Fire Department officials told local news media that the aircraft appeared to have suffered some kind of engine failure and that the crew attempted to bring the aircraft down in a safe area, in this case, a field.
The crew included one civilian and one active-duty airman. At the time of the incident, the plane was on a training flight.
The OA-1K Skyraider II was unveiled to the public for the first time in early May at SOF Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida, where Business Insider got an up-close look at the new plane. The first mission-ready Skyraider II aircraft had been delivered to Air Force Special Operations Command just prior to that event.
While the plane started as a crop duster, the OA-1K Skyraider II — named after the A-1 Skyraider of the Korean and Vietnam wars — has received a ton of upgrades for a variety of missions, such as CAS, armed ISR, and strike. Different technologies can be easily integrated into the modular aircraft design for different missions.
Made by L3Harris, the OA-1K Skyraider II has been described by the Air Force as a flexible aircraft that boasts more manageable maintenance demands and a lower cost per flight hour than other AFSOC aircraft at less than $1,000 per hour.
It was mainly built for armed overwatch and attack in permissive environments. L3Harris officials previously told Business Insider one of the aircraft's strengths is that it can land just about "anywhere," from rugged and remote airfields to highways.
The Air Force has been prioritizing that flexibility for higher-end warfare in which fixed bases and airfields are vulnerable targets for a well-armed adversary like China or Russia. More austere environments and unconventional runways are less likely to attract enemy missiles.
