MAG Aerospace announced today that its MC-208 Guardian multi-role aircraft has been selected as one of only 5 remaining competitors for the United States Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) new Armed Overwatch aircraft.
The MC-208 Guardian boasts an impressive set of capabilities built on the well-established Cessna Caravan, offering the reliability of a pre-existing global supply chain and true multi-mission capability. The MC-208 Guardian is capable of performing aerial surveillance, close air support, casualty and medical evacuations, air mobility, and precision strike, all in one mission without the need to be reconfigured. The Guardian effectively eliminates the need to deploy and operate multiple aircraft types, conserving precious resources.
Today’s warfighter is constantly being asked to do more with less and will continue to operate in budget constrained environments that demand resource prioritization. This was the problem we wanted the MC-208 Guardian to address. We created an aircraft that is readily available with an open architecture specifically designed to minimize the strain on maintainer and pilot pipelines all while being affordable, versatile, and deployable.
Joe Fluet, MAG Aerospace CEO
The MC-208 Guardian is a production-ready solution for the Armed Overwatch effort. It is a proven platform that excels in austere environments offering the flexibility required to perform multiple missions in a single sortie. The aircraft boasts a remarkable 98 percent availability rate, very low cost-per-flight-hour, robust communications, world leading ISR capabilities, fully integrated and proven weapons systems, endurance, mobility, and survivability.
Variants of the MC-208 Guardian’s multi-role platform have been delivered and are in operation worldwide. Given MAG’s expertise and experience, the company is well positioned to continue supporting the DoD across a variety of mission sets.
Source: MAG Aerospace news release
