F-15E Strike Eagles unable to shoot down the F-35s in 8 dogfights during simulated deployment

[Ford_Prefect]

19. It's the old story that the Air Force feels it shouldn't be in the close ground support role.

They go through this dance every other decade or so. In this case "Some One" thought the planes were outdated and should be got rid of...until the Army realized ISIS, Yemen and other recent, relatively low tech war scenarios required exactly this kind of plane. The Air Force seems to be more concerned, as it was during the cold war, with high tech, high speed aircraft.

Regardless of your views about warfare as such the cost is radically much less expensive per hour to fly the A-10, or a plane like it, to do that job than an F-35 or F-15, or helicopters, to do the same work. It is a role that of necessity existed in every conflict we have engaged in since WWI. No matter how many machines are involved in so-called modern warfare at some point you still must have troops on the ground and they will need close support from the air to encounter and help remove opposing forces, their armor and artillery in the field.

It also now seems that A-10s may be an attractive naval patrol aircraft for deterrence in places like the South China Sea. The Philippine Government recently made an attractive offer for all the soon-to-be-retired A-10 aircraft, until Congress decreed they may not be sold, presumably to help defend against Chinese encroachment in the Spratly Islands area.

I have no doubt that AFRICOM may need them soon as well. Drones cannot fly close support or carry the same loads for the same duration.