Despite numerous sales attempts to the United States Air Force, neither the U.S. military nor any foreign operators purchased the Turbo Mustang III.

Seeking a company with mass production capability, the Turbo Mustang III, renamed the "Enforcer", was sold to Piper Aircraft in late 1970.

In 1971, Piper built two Enforcers by heavily modifying two existing Mustang airframes, fitting them with Lycoming YT55-L-9A turboprop engines along with numerous other significant modifications.

Prior to the Pave COIN evaluation, N202PE was lost in a crash off the Florida coast on 12 July 1971 due to flutter caused by a Piper-modified elevator trim tab.

Eventually in the 1979 defense bill $11.9 million was allocated for Piper to build two new prototypes and for the Air Force to perform another flight evaluation.

As in the Pave COIN tests of 1971, the PA-48s were found to perform well in their intended role, but the Air Force again decided not to purchase the aircraft.