The American Electric Piranha (also named Blair-American USA or American USA) was a prototype

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

aircraft. Designed by Milt Blair and Dick Ennis in the early 1960s, it was built by the American Electric Corporation. Developed for use by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

under Project Little Brother, initial flight testing of the Piranha took place at

Mojave Airport The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of . It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a spa ...

in California; following delivery for evaluation, it was tested at

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The ...

in Florida. The design armament of the Piranha was two pods each carrying four Zuni unguided rockets, mounted on the aircraft's wingtips, and a single bomb on a belly

hardpoint A hardpoint is an attachment location on a structural frame designed to transfer force and carry an external or internal load. The term is usually used to refer to the mounting points (more formally known as a weapon station or station) on the ...

.''Sport Aviation''. Oshkosh, WI:

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. July 1976
page 40
Evaluation of the Piranha ceased following the death of Milt Blair in an unrelated aircraft accident. The prototype, N1518, is flown by a private owner in Kansas.Orphan jet: one unique aircraft coming to Airfest
. September 2012. Great Bend, Kansas: ''Great Bend Tribune''. Accessed 2013-04-06.

Specifications

References

American Electric aircraft 1960s United States attack aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Aircraft first flown in 1966 {{Aero-1960s-stub

Specifications

See also

References