“Can the A-10 carry the SDB II internally? Does the F-35 need to carry that bomb internally? “
If it doesn’t, then it has no stealth. So it magically becomes a slow, shortlegged, undergunned F-18 variant.
How much stealth is needed for CAS missions? The biggest threat will be IR-guided MANPADS. Anything radar-guided will be managed by SEAD platforms.
The F-35 needs stealth for deep strike and interdiction missions, plus popping off first-see/first shoot shots against enemy aircraft. But loitering over a battlefield? C’mon ... In those cases the F-35 will be toting the centerline gunpod and weapons on external pylons.
So, the arguments for retaining the A-10 are sound and overwhelming. But this is a pretty cheap, pile on hit piece against the F-35z
So who is running CAS in an environment where you need stealth? The F-35 is supposed to be a first week of the war, stealth deliverer of J Weps. When the ground phase starts it is supposed to be a bomb truck.
Stealth is a joke too, this F-35 is over priced garbage.