“It’s the right tool for the job. Has there been any convincing testimony or information otherwise?”
It’s not. An Apache is a preferable alternative for very close support (slower and lower, sees the friendlies better). Also, the 30mm anti-armor cannon is not optimal for killing terrorists and their camels - the ammo is far more expensive than need be. It is far more expensive than the 30mm explosive round fired by the Apache.
When it’s less close air support (situations such as portrayed in the broken arrow scene in “We Were Soldiers”) the F-16s and other jets can do fine. Troops now have laser designators that give GPS coordinates that can be directly loaded into the GPS guided bombs. Even B-52s and B-1s can provide support that way.
The A-10 is obsolete as a tank-buster against first or second tier opponents, and it’s the wrong weapon for CAS. It is a good source for pork in certain congressional districts, though.
“What else produces a “Highway of Death” in an armored tank advance?”
F-16s, F-18s, F-15s, F-111s, B-52s and Apaches. Completely obsolete (and retired) Navy A-6s made it possible when they blocked the highway by cluster-bombing a lead convoy. A-10s were there too, but the outcome would have been the same if they’d been replaced by F-16s.
Here’s a decent video about the HoD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhmXleZXAr0
Plenty of good jet footage there, and an appearance by an A-10. As an aside, it’s a shame cluster bombs have been dropped from the inventory...
Karbala 2003. 31 Apaches attacked Iraqi positions and were wiped out. 29 machines were damaged and one shot down. The unit was out of action for a solid month.
That battle proved the Apache cannot operate in the same role as an A-10. Nowhere close in firepower, loiter, or ability. The Apache is good when you are killing tanks in Europe, or hunting down individual savages with not much more than a belt fed machine gun. All those hellfire videos in Iraq are an example of what its good at.
But its dead wrong to pretend CAS is most effectively done be an Apache. It can do some things, and not others. That’s why the Corps has jets AND Cobras. They would never dream of making their wing an all Cobra CAS solution. Hellfires and 30mm cant do it all.