Military aviation was born in a somewhat forgotten conflict over the deserts of North Africa. To better understand the role and purpose of the Warthog, it is useful to examine the development of CAS aircraft over the last 100 years. They can achieve CAS through practically any sort of weapons system, even unguided bombs or rockets. In CAS, friendly forces are already engaging the enemy force on the front line. ![]() The chief difference between DAS and CAS is the position of friendly ground forces. Air Interdiction, or deep air support (AI-DAS), is the targeting of enemy ground forces far behind enemy lines as a preventive tactic of delaying infantry or armored columns from advancing. It is perhaps helpful to consider CAS for what it isn’t. The point of CAS is to provide proximate areal fire to enemy positions in close relativity to friendly forces, without subjecting those friendly forces to unnecessary danger. It is akin to using a tank or artillery shell as a sniper round. A B-52 Stratobomber can absolutely saturate a battlefield with explosive munitions, but it is highly likely that friendly forces will perish in the onslaught of bombs. This does not mean, however, that any offensive ordnance dropped by an aircraft would count as close air support. Many types of aircraft and ordnance can achieve this. When enemy fire pins down a military unit, the select method for breaking through the enveloping fires is air support. In any case, the prevalence of low intensity insurgencies across the world, and America’s potential involvement in such conflicts, mean that some form of CAS aircraft is well in the works for the US Air Force.Ĭlose air support is as simple as the name would suggest. Speculation abounds online over a potential stealth variant, or simpler airframe, such as the AT-6 Wolverine or T-29 Super Tucano. The question remains as to what the Warthogs’ replacement will look like. Hyperbole aside, the perpetual noises coming from Washington suggest that the A-10 faces replacement. To use a famous American adynaton, the Warthog will retire when pigs can fly. Try as they might, military planners cannot seem to shake the Warthog. The very next year, the Air Force announced that the A-10 would remain in the military’s inventory “indefinitely”. Yet, in 2016, those plans were put on hold until 2022. In 2015, Air Combat Command issued a press release announcing the intention of developing a replacement aircraft capable of fulfilling CAS mission profiles. In fairness, the aircraft is over 50 years old. The Air Force constantly insinuates that the Warthog is nearing the end of its operational lifespan. It is a quintessential piece of American aviation and the US Air Force’s primary delivery mechanism of close air support (CAS). But what the A-10 lacks in aesthetics, it more than makes up for in operational capability and engineering prowess. The A-10 Thunderbolt, or Warthog, is so called because of its jarring, perhaps even ugly appearance. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Jonathan Snyder)Īnyone who has viewed footage of the A-10 Warthog in action can immediately call upon the telltale sound of a GAU-8 Avenger 30mm mini-gun ejecting 3,900 armor piercing incendiary rounds a minute. An A-10 Thunderbolt II from the 355th Fighter Squadron at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, fires a 30mm GAU-8 Avenger seven-barrel Gatling gun over the Pacific Alaska Range Complex. There are few images which can evoke the sensation of sound more so than the following below. The A-10 is the world’s premier close air support aircraft, but it is aging and the Air Force needs a replacement in the long term.
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