“Air Force officials maintain that the A-10’s sole close air support (CAS) role can be taken on by other aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin F-16, the Boeing F-15E and the Rockwell/North American B-1 bomber. Unmanned air vehicles like the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper also have been floated as CAS aircraft.”
Yeah? But not as well and with not the same punch.
The A-10 has loiter time to really make a difference AND the A-10 has the weapons to REALLY make a difference (GAU-8).
Gulf War I, working as a ground FAC with the US Army, was working a 4-ship of A-10’s when a flight of two F-16’s showed up with ‘5-minutes play time’. Told the A-10’s to hold high and dry, gave the GPS coordinates to the F-16’s, they swooshed by, dropped their two Mk-84’s a piece and then left the area. . .brought the A-10’s back into the game to do the man’s share of the work.
I wonder why the A 10 pilot sits in a titaniun bathtub? Why are the turbofans mounted high and aft on pylons? CAS is for brawlers not dancers.
Serbs had been over-running so-called Muslim “safe havens” in eastern Bosnia. The UN (which had the authority to approve air strikes) had actually allowed us to put ordnance on target in response to those actions. During one of my missions, the Serbs were moving into a town called Gorazde, shelling the hospital, etc. The request for CAS had gone up the chain and would get final approval in New York (took at least 45 minutes on a good day).
We finally got the OK, and had a flight of two A-10s overhead, ready to obliterate Serb armor.
But someone in the NATO command structure decided the U.S. had been getting all the glory for conducting limited air strikes and it was time to get the coalition involved. We had two Sea Harriers coming off the Brit's small carrier in the Adriatic, and they got the tasking. So we put the A-10s in a holding pattern and sent the Harriers in (with very limited range/play time, you had to work them in quickly before they hit bingo fuel).
You can guess what happened. One of the Harriers (on the third pass over the target) got hit by a MANPAD and shot down. The CAS/BAI mission now became a rescue effort. The A-10 pilot became an airborne FAC as everyone searched for the downed British pilot. He was eventually rescued by the Muslims and at the end of the day, the Serb tanks rolled into the sunset, untouched by any NATO bomb, rocket or bullet.
Nothing matches the A-10 for loiter time, lethality and survivability. Air Force leadership has long tried to get rid of anything that isn't stealth or doesn't shoot down other aircraft. That's one reason my old platform was retired before 9/11, though it was tailor-made for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's the same reason they want to get rid of the A-10. Stupidity writ large.
And the Warthog can take several punches and still complete the mission. Any of the other aircraft else, usually once they are hit in any fashion they are out of the game and must head to the barn.