I actually like the aircraft but I also share your doubts about its survivability against any properly equipped adversary. I could see the Mexican Air Force for instance using an aircraft like this against internal rebels - in Chiapas they really were only facing people with rifles and at most light machine guns
In a Twilight 2000 scenario I could see aircraft like this being deployed in 1999-2001 as ways to get some air support better than a Cessna with a machine gun mounted on it as aviation fuel supply and lack of spare parts grounds military aircraft and as SAM's/MANPADS are discarded by troops who havent seen a plane in the sky in months or longer - and thus dont have them when they need them.
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