Ultra rare and highly specialized Grob G 520 Recce aircraft spotted in Indiana

I have to admit this was a new one for me. its one of perhaps ?? few that are known of. It flies at FL50 (which may not seem like a big deal but it is a turboprop) features a presumably low signature composite structure, is manned, and is studded with sensors and was seen at Indiana’s North Vernon Municipal Airport. It was one of many SOF aircraft transiting through the airport on the way to an exercise. I wonder if SOCOM is evaluating a new toy? The article seems to say its owned by a private contractor. For a single engine prop its performance figures are quite impressive. I wish our PL-12 came close

www.thedrive.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: FredT
Nice find, I've never seen one before and it's pretty wild looking. Looking at the first picture the wingspan is huge, I'm sure it hauls a$$ also. It kinda reminds me of a heavily modified P-51. I would love to see one in person, thank you for sharing.

ETA.
I was reading through the wiki page and they only made 6 of these and it has a service ceiling of 50,000+ feet with only 750 horsepower, that is very impressive and would explain the 108 foot wingspan.

a reply to: FredT

It may have something to do with this:
www.southcom.mil...

Marines with the Aviation Combat Element, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force –Southern Command, taxi down the runway in CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters June 1, 2017, at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras. The main body of SPMAGTF-SC arrived in Honduras to begin their six-month deployment in Central America.

Marines and sailors with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force - Southern Command, the rapid response force assigned to U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility, arrived in Central America June 1. Most of the nearly 300-member unit will be headquartered out of Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, with the permission of the government of Honduras. The remainder of SPMAGTF-SC will be dispersed among Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, at the invitation of their governments, to conduct training and security cooperation engagements that are tailored to each partner’s needs.

Its a guess, but..........apparently US Southern Command is worried about terror cells operating in Central and South America. It may be the case that they want to use this plane to conduct high altitude surveillance in Central America.

See:
www.ncpa.org...

a reply to: FredT

wiki says they build six so that leave 5 unaccounted for so i guess ill just have to get one. over a 50K ft service ceiling sounds fun, i wonder if it comes with a pressure suit and air supply

a reply to: FredT

Never thought I would see my tiny home town mentioned here!
When M.U.T.C. started ramping up the training they do here they performed a ton of upgrades to the airport. Mainly to support larger aircraft (c-130's are a very common site now) but also tightened security quite a bit. Might have to break out the ole camera and see if I can snap some pics of anything that might be interesting. To be honest the huge increase in helicopter traffic kinda sucks, but the jets and planes remind me of when I was much younger and the Jefferson proving ground was still very active.

But that does explain the c-130 I saw heading in for a landing not long ago. Hmmm, girlfriend also mentioned about 4 or 5 helicopters that flew overhead, not that she was excited about it, just complaining about everything it knocked off the shelves and walls, lol.