A-10
Pilot
Crew Chief
Close Air Support (CAS)
Responses: 1
1
1
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The A-10 does an outstanding job at CAS, and nothing but another dedicated CAS platform would do CAS as well. Certainly not the F-16 or B-1 or F-35, which all do CAS today. But, money and manpower drive pentagon decision-making, and not just for the AF. Ask the Army and Navy. We can no longer afford so many platforms dedicated to a single mission type. We even see the trend in UASs...they need to do more than ISR. I think you are right when you say the AF never liked its CAS role. CAS is a support role. No service likes to do their support roles.
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CMSgt Mike Esser
AC-130 is Truely AWESOME, death from above, however, sometimes, just seeing the low flying aircraft can get the enemy to turn away, the AC-130 cannot provide that visual fear, possibly precluding the engagement. There is a DIRECT benefit to a low flying, visible CAS platform, in my opinion.
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MSgt John Taylor
CMSgt Mike Esser - Unfortunately, it's as Col Joseph Lenertz mentioned; in this day of budget woes, we need our aircraft to do more, and the A-10, as wonderful as it is, is very limited to what it can do in the battle space.
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MSgt Claude McLain
Have to agree with you, the A-10 and the AC-130 are truly awesome...Having watched the AC-130's ancestor (Puff the Magic Dragon and later the other AC-47's) in action during Vietnam and later watching the AC-130 in action on the practice ranges, I can believe that both the A-10 and AC-130 are absolute necessities for ground support in any future hostilities.
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