Article

2015-08-13 Science & Technology

A-10 replacement? USAF strategy calls for 'future CAS platform'

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Posted by OldSpook 2015-08-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 Ground Support Aircraft. The AF doesn't want it. Let the Army have fixed wings again rather than their own 100 million dollar (plus) next gen helicopter that does nothing more basically than an A10.

Posted by Procopius2k 2015-08-13 00:06|| 2015-08-13 00:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Anything that is Air to Mud should be in the Army's control.

Anything that is mixed or air-to-air should be in the Air Force.

Posted by DarthVader 2015-08-13 00:21|| 2015-08-13 00:21|| Front Page Top

#3 While the USAF per se still debates changing the "AF" acronyms, Vlad's Boyz = Russia have gone on + formed the RUSSIAN AEROSPACE FORCE.

I have to respect Vlad for that.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2015-08-13 02:05|| 2015-08-13 02:05|| Front Page Top

#4 ...I'm sorry, but I know My Beloved Service too well by this point to trust them on anything they say regarding CAS. There is no - repeat, NO possible way they will have the money to support a dedicated CAS bird. Look instead for an A-35 with dedicated radios and a gun pack.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2015-08-13 07:59|| 2015-08-13 07:59|| Front Page Top

#5 My AF son say that in the future, CAS will be done by drones.

Yeah, right.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2015-08-13 09:22|| 2015-08-13 09:22|| Front Page Top

#6 It should be mixed Rambler. Most of the future aircraft will be drones and while they may be autonomous and partly controlled by people back at base, there will always be a place for a pair of eyeballs in a cockpit than can direct them to places the sensors can't see.

Imagine a CAS pilot with not only his weapon load, but 30 drones flying with him. He can fly like the A-10, picking out targets that the cameras miss and then can target the area with a few drones that can make multiple passes and then do a suicide run into it if needed. The amount of damage that pilot could do to the enemy without needing to make many, if any, weapon runs himself.

Posted by DarthVader 2015-08-13 14:05|| 2015-08-13 14:05|| Front Page Top

#7 Darth, I like the way you think. I do believe that a single pilot controlling a lot of drones while scanning the battlefield, flying the plane etc. is pretty aggressive. Maybe it's time to bring back the RIO.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2015-08-13 14:17|| 2015-08-13 14:17|| Front Page Top

#8 I think in future the role of Stealh planes is merely to have lag free control over nearby drones.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2015-08-13 17:45|| 2015-08-13 17:45|| Front Page Top

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