Manufacturer: SCALED / WILLIAMS

Model: 285

Name: Guardjet (V-Jet IIA)

Type: Jet-powered VIP / liaison aircraft

Date: 1996

Status: Operational use

Country: United States

Service: U.S. Coast Guard

Designation: YU-31A Swift

The original V-Jet II was designed by Scaled Composites as their Model 271 in answer to a Williams International contract for a small biz jet built around their brand new FJ44 turbofan.

The U.S. Coast Guard needed a small batch of jet-powered liaison and VIP transport aircraft but couldn't afford the higher-end designs that existed on the market. They briefly showed interest in the proposed Swearingen-Jaffe design, but when production of this was postponed with no guarantee that it would ever be built, the Coast Guard turned to Scaled Composites.

The resulting aircraft was the Scaled/Williams Model 285 Guardjet (initially known as the V-Jet IIA), which was impressed as the YU-31A Swift.

As I believed the V-Jet II could really have been great as a small military liaison aircraft, I simply reworked a photo of the sole prototype by applying various markings and coloring certain parts Coast Guard red.

Original photo was by Bruce Leibowitz.