Well that depends almost exclusively on the target. One 500lb GBU-12 hitting a standard tank will destroy it. So why would you want to hit it with multiple strafe passes. One 2000lb GBU-10 will replace most buildings with a 50 foot deep crater. You couldn’t get the same effect with 100 strafe passes.
What target are you thinking about where your weapon of choice would me a strafe pass over a PGM?
“Well that depends almost exclusively on the target.”
Indeed.
“One 500lb GBU-12 hitting a standard tank will destroy it.”
True, if it hits it. Thing is the best tank killer is another tank, and tank plinking may be fun but you only carry a few GBUs, whereas the 1100 rounds from an A-10 means 8-10 passes (not counting the Maverick load-out or its own GBU’s. Again, it is the ability to stay around and shape the battle-space.
“So why would you want to hit it with multiple strafe passes.”
One pass kills it. Move on to the next.
“One 2000lb GBU-10 will replace most buildings with a 50 foot deep crater. You couldn’t get the same effect with 100 strafe passes.”
Never said so. However, a Maverick missile will do some really bad damage, and the A-10 (with its loiter time) can make its own passes with PGMs and move on to the next building.
“What target are you thinking about where your weapon of choice would me a strafe pass over a PGM?”
Armour, armored infantry, infantry, CAS/TIC, even anti-ship (disabling).
It is a matter of flexibility and an ability to serve as a force multiplier.
An A-10 provides a mix of weapons (gun, PGMs), and has the gas to stay on station to provide that level of dedicated support that ensures the battle-space is affected directly.
More than a few times during Gulf War I, I was working a 4-ship of A-10’s as they pounded the pee out of the Iraqi's pass after pass after pass, and then some flight of F-16s shows up and calls only 5-minutes playtime. Great, hold the A-10’s high and dry, call in the Vipers with a GPS designated Tgt, whoosh and then call back the A-10s.
CAS is where the ability to provide precise weapons delivery really counts (and takes time to get eyes on, and also CAS means the friendlies are close and blast/frag means something, and a gun makes all the difference.