I think this would be an awesome Special Ops craft. Historically speaking, until recently, Spec Air Ops of both the US and the UK used older aircraft that had long been replaced by more advanced craft in the regualr services.
The reason was that they were cheaper and easier to maintain in the field, easy to get ahold of, and easy to modify in the highly battle stressed enviroment of Special Operations.
The Athena has always reminded me of the Canberra. A light bomber that was later used by both UK and US Spec Ops in the numerous low intensity brush conflicts of the 60's,70's and 80's.