The Textron AirLand Scorpion is a jet aircraft manufactured in the United States proposed for sale to perform light attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) duties.

[2][3][4] In October 2011, a group of outside investors known as AirLand Enterprises LLC[5] approached Textron with the concept of building the "world’s most affordable tactical jet aircraft."

[9] In a traditional aircraft development program, the Department of Defense or a military service would issue detailed requirements, potentially hundreds of pages long.

The phrase "speed is paramount" serves as impetus for the program, with the objective of creating the plane, flying it, and selling it as fast as possible to not miss opportunities.

Participation in the Farnborough International Airshow in 2014 accelerated changes; modifications included an engine inlet ice protection system and a metal inlet leading edge in place of the composite one for flying in a broader range of weather conditions, a cockpit ladder so the pilot does not need a ground crew ladder, an onboard oxygen-generating system in place of oxygen bottles, and other non-urgent items.

[23][24] The Scorpion is a tandem-seat twinjet aircraft with an all-composite material fuselage designed for light attack and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.

The joint venture also states the Scorpion is intended to handle "non-traditional ISR" flights such as those performed by U.S. fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Scorpion is designed to cheaply perform armed reconnaissance using sensors to cruise above 15,000 ft, higher than most ground fire can reach, and still be rugged enough to sustain minimal damage.

The Scorpion is to have a 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) payload of precision and non-precision munitions or intelligence-collecting equipment in a simplified and reconfigurable internal bay.

[30][31] In August 2014, the Scorpion participated in a scenario which involved a mock large chemical spill, requiring cleanup and search-and-rescue operations.

A Textron test pilot flew the Scorpion, which circled the area for a few hours while transmitting full motion video to U.S. Air National Guard members.

The purpose was to demonstrate the aircraft's intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities to fill a niche for Air National Guard missions, and be a promotional exercise.

[32] The Scorpion achieved 100 percent mission availability, providing color HD full motion video and communications with other aircraft and ground stations.

It is uncertain if the Scorpion will be cheaper or outperform turboprops or remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in terms of range, endurance, low-altitude performance, and sensors.

Budget cuts make new programs unattractive, and its missions of irregular warfare, border patrol, maritime surveillance, emergency relief, counter narcotics, and air defense operations are performed by RPAs.

Air National Guard leaders feel losing manned aircraft to remotely piloted types would leave them ill-equipped for domestic emergencies, such as natural disasters and homeland security crises.

In November 2014, sources confirmed that the United Arab Emirates had held discussions on using the Scorpion for the Al Fursan aerobatic squadron and Textron believed this could lead to an expanded military role.

[41] In November 2014, the Nigerian Air Force expressed interest in up to a squadron's worth of Scorpions to counter the Boko Haram insurgency.

[44] U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter was expected to offer the Scorpion to the Indian Air Force during his visit to the country in June 2015.

The three companies’ CEOs met at Farnborough International Airshow to announce the signing of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) setting the foundation for the bid.

[46] In February 2018 the Scorpion was eliminated from the USAF's Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance aircraft competition, in favor of the Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine and the Embraer A-29 Super Tucano.

Only small modifications would be made, including shortening the wings to less than 47 ft (14.3 m) and making them more aerodynamic, as well as increasing the engine's thrust at the expense of fuel efficiency for greater maneuverability; the twin-engine, twin-tail design would be retained.

[48] However, in September 2015 the company revealed that they would not offer a modification of the Scorpion for the T-X, given the change in Air Force requirements favoring a high-performance aircraft.