This thread is both amusing and entertaining. For people clamoring that the A-10 should be given to the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps has already made its selection for its next CAS aircraft. It’s the F-35B. It will replace the AV-8B and older F-18C, both of which the Marine Corps has been using as very effective CAS platforms for decades (as a sidenote, the last major upgrade to the AV-8B was to give it a very nice radar which allowed it to employ AMRAAM missiles. For those in Rio Linda, that’s a beyond visual range air to air weapon. A capability the Marine Corps recognized as being important to even dedicated attack aircraft, and one the A-10 could never have). The Marine Corps is THE expert service on the CAS mission, so its decisions regarding how it will perform CAS are worth pondering. It doesn’t want the A-10, and got rid of its last slow moving, straight wing FAC/CAS platform shortly after it became obvious in the first Gulf War that flying those aircraft into anything but a low threat surface to air environment was a great way to put the whole CAS war on hold while you dedicated most of your assets to recovering downed pilots.
As far as giving the A-10 to the Army...they don’t want them. No room in their budget to support taking on a fixed wing attack aircraft and all the support assets it requires. Dead issue.
People who aren’t familiar with the modern CAS environment believe to be effective, it must be performed by aircraft flying low and slow. The advent of precision guided munitions changed that. Flying low and slow in a modern combat environment is about as tactically smart as employing horse cavalry in a modern combat environment. Looks really cool. Lots of chivalry. And then you permanently lose the asset you were counting on to help you win the war, when the enemy gets tired of looking at it. If the Army truly believed CAS was best performed by low and slow aircraft, it would use its AH-64s as dedicated CAS platforms. It never has.
The primary objective of CAS is to support ground troops in close combat with the enemy. To do that, you need to deliver the right ordnance, precisely on target, as quickly as possible. We do that now with everything from artillary, ballistic missiles, drones, bombers, helicopters, fighter aircraft of all types, and yes, the A-10. Other than its appearance, there is nothing unique the A-10 brings to the equation that gets ordnance on target any more precisely or anymore quickly than any of the other CAS assets. In fact, with the exception of its gun, it uses the same weapons and guidance systems as every other fixed wing aircraft. And while the gun is cool, it is used more and more rarely because it is more accurate and more effective to employ other precision guided munitions options against most targets. That wasn’t the case when the A-10 was developed. But....it was developed 40 years ago.
I love the A-10. Always have. But I also love the P-38, the F-4 and the Saturn V rocket.
Well said.
Part of the issue is, we have been accustomed during most of WWII, and nearly every conflict after, of having nearly complete air superiority in contested areas.
Sure, we tangled with MIGs up near the Yalu in Korea, and with MIGS in Vietnam, but for the most part, we have never had to deal with much more than SAMS and AA, both of which can be suppressed.
In a future conflict with China, Russia, or even one of the islamic states, the quality of what we might be expected to encounter in a battle for air superiority is pretty good, so it won’t be a given. Sure, our training and support will likely still be a lot better, but...it won’t be a given.
Your points about guided munitions is well put. So for ground support, we may well see hypersonic munitions delivered from far, FAR away, or even delivered by rail guns with high accuracy.
I am with you...I adore the A-10, and nearly every aircraft we have deployed has been a winner, but that ground support mission has changed. Ground support will be less dive bombing and more munition delivery from high altitude.
Thank you.
“The Marine Corps is THE expert service on the CAS mission”
How so?
Amen to that. Some never seem to grasp that concept.
The strength of the A-10 is it ability to stick around to perform many attacks, employing PGMs, and the GUN. A-10's can attack and attack and attack. . .not just ‘one pass haul a$$”
Good post.