With the Vietnam War looming, the US Marine Corps required a purpose-built light counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft as part of its LARA (Light Armed reconnaissance Airplane) specification and thus the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco was born. It was originally designed from a North American (later North American Rockwell) proposal and was the first dedicated COIN aircraft ever designed. The OV-10 featured shoulder-mounted constant-chord wings with twin booms, a tandem two-seat crew configuration, and a counter-rotating turboprops. It immediately saw action in Vietnam where the USMC used it extensively for armed reconnaissance, forward air control and helicopter escort while the USAF used them for air control and, ocassionally, close support. Export clients included Germany, Thailand, Venezuela and Indonesia and was retired from US service in 1994 after being used in combat during the Gulf War.

The Bronco was based on the North American NA-300 design which was followed by the YOV-10A prototypes, the first of which flew on 16 July 1965. It was later decided to increase their wingspan and entered service as the OV-10A. A version built specifically for West Germany was known as the OV-10B for target towing with some modified OV-10B(Z) aircraft were fitted with an auxiliary General Electric J85 turbojet. A number of OV-10As were eventually converted to OV-10D standards for a Night Observation Surveillance (NOS) role and are easily destinguishable because of their elongated noses. These units were equipped with FLIR sensors, laser target designater and video trackers and feature a substantially increased armament load as well as more powerful engines. Export versions based on the OV-10A were designated OV-10C (Thailand), OV-10E (Venezuela), and OV-10F (Indonesia).