It’s absolutely consistent that this admin would do everything it can do to shunt aside and retire one of the most effective and lowest cost weapons we have. Didn’t the whole fleet of these things just undergo (and may not even be done) with I believe a $10 bn wing update? That’s chump change in terms of an aircraft program. I am 100% sure the problem with this plane is that it’s too cheap.
Personally I believe a 5/8 scale A-10 drone with miniguns instead of the GAU-8 would be an awesome weapon, though more anti-personnel versus anti-tank.
“Personally I believe a 5/8 scale A-10 drone with miniguns instead of the GAU-8 would be an awesome weapon, though more anti-personnel versus anti-tank.”
CAS without a pilot at the battlefield is stupid. It is the brain a few feet above ground that makes the different between CAS and precision bombing from great heights.
I love this aircraft. I have seen them between the hills of the Odenwald in Germany. I have never heard them coming and even going.
The problem with this aircraft is quite simple. It is a simple and cheap aircraft. The industry can’t make big money with it.
CAS with the F-35A? There are cheaper aircraft to drop a bomb from high altitudes.
CAS with the F-35B? Did work superb with the AV-8B Harrier in Afghanistan. Dirt and dusty runway? ...