Modern close air support CAS

S

Scratch

Captain
Thankfully moved here (were it fits a lot better) from the Air-Force forum by Jeff (Danke), I'm now happily able to continue this interesting threat. :)

Looks like all that noise over the premature retirement talk of the A-10 has sparked some follow on platform discussion.

The pro A-10 side seems to have developed enough momentum in pretending ending the A-10 would be equal to doing away with a proper CAS capability. So the USAF top brass now looks into replacement options. While initially, a lot will also depend of spreading those capacities to other platforms.

If there is to be a high-low mix in the air-ground (CAS) domain between the F-35 and the A-X, then I do believe the A-X will likely be geared towards a COIN jet, operating in a more or less permissive environment. It will not be another armored, heavy tank buster. That conventional war type stuff will then fall to the likes of F-35, -16 & -15E. Or block III Apaches.

So I guess a Scorpion type may actually have a proper chance here. That also brings new momentum to the T-X debate.

In that regard, a "F/A-346" (Aermacchi M-346) is probably much less likely.

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Washington DC
Source: Flightglobal.com - 17:58 12 Aug 2015

A new strategy document released by US Air Combat Command points to the development of a future close-air-support platform as the service pushes to retire the long-serving Fairchild Republic A-10 – its primary close-in attack airplane used to protect ground troops.

[...]

“We must also continue to develop a balanced close air support (CAS) capability across all [global precision attack] platforms, explore opportunities for a future CAS platform, and enact specific initiatives to ensure we maintain a CAS culture throughout the combat air force,” the document says.

The note about the future CAS platform is further indication that the senior leaders within the air force are actively pursuing an A-10 replacement, or A-X, even as they seek permission from Congress to move the A-10 to the boneyard to make way for the Lockheed Martin F-35, which has basic CAS capabilities.

ACC Commander Gen Hawk
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, who approved the strategic plan, said in March the air force is exploring what will follow the A-10, potentially as a more affordable complement to the F-35 for a high-low force mix. “We're thinking about what an A-X would look like,” he says.

Gen Mark Welsh, chief of staff of the air force, then said in April the air force would pursue a new CAS platform in the “relatively near- and mid-term” if funding would allow it.

“It doesn't today, but we certainly would like to have something that operates more efficiently than other airplanes we have today, that brings more firepower, that we can use in a low-threat environment,” he says. ...
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