Air Force's next look at attack planes set for Arizona base

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in southern Arizona will be the site of continued experimentation aimed at collecting data to enable the Air Force to buy an off-the-shelf light-attack aircraft at low cost.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson says in a news release issued Friday in Washington that the experimentation May through July will involve using the AT-6 Wolverine and the A-29 Super Tucano.

Wilson calls those aircraft "the two most promising" among four included in tests conducted last summer at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The release says further experimentation will examine logistics and maintenance requirements, weapons and sensor issues and other characteristics.

Davis-Monthan hosts a unit that flies the A-10, an attack jet first flown during the Cold War and still in service to support ground forces.