How ISIS and Boko Haram Could Change the Way Countries Purchase Air Power

Not everyone agrees. "It's just sort of a baffling product," says Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at Teal Group, and aerospace and defense consultancy based in Fairfax, Va. "It's the perfect solution to a problem that doesn't exist."

Aboulafia says less-expensive turboprop aircraft have proven themselves more than capable of conducting ISR and striking ground targets. The Scorpion's relatively low, subsonic speed and lack of sophisticated radar put it a class below the lowest-end fighter jets capable of air-to-air intercept and combat, he adds. "I'm not sure where the demand would come from," he says.