A-10 Warthog

[markppcli]

That's what modern rotorcraft are for. An MV-75 has a 280 kt cruise, substantially longer endurance and about 70% of the payload. It's doing what an Apache would do at double the cruise speed.

If we he have a high enough threat environment to worry about the A10s being shot out of the sky for lack of countermeasures i sincerely doubt a rotor is going to stay flying for very long on the FLOT. Since no gunship MV-75 is in development, US Army wants two distinct platforms, thats a non starter. Per your payload comment.... sure ill believe in when I see a helicopter with 500 lb class bombs and AGMs. Rotary wing air craft vulnerabilities have been displayed in Ukraine.

An aircraft that can't contribute to the biggest threat scenario should probably not be such a large part of the fixed wing combat fleet. At least the F-15EX can contribute to a Taiwan fight.

Thats strictly based on geographic realities. A10s dont have the legs to make it to that fight from Korea and contribute meaningfully.

 

[ytz]

If we he have a high enough threat environment to worry about the A10s being shot out of the sky for lack of countermeasures i sincerely doubt a rotor is going to stay flying for very long on the FLOT. Since no gunship MV-75 is in development, US Army wants two distinct platforms, thats a non starter. Per your payload comment.... sure ill believe in when I see a helicopter with 500 lb class bombs and AGMs. Rotary wing air craft vulnerabilities have been displayed in Ukraine.

Thats strictly based on geographic realities. A10s dont have the legs to make it to that fight from Korea and contribute meaningfully.

Reality is that the A-10 replacement is some combination of F-35 for a high threat environment and F-15EX for lower threat environments where heavy payload can be brought to bear. Beyond that, if we're looking at places where an A-10 can operate, it's going to some kind of gunship supporting SOF or eventually whatever happens in the rotary wing space. Building a dedicated CAS aircraft that is optimized to operate in low threat environments that governments largely eschew (Iran excepted) is substantially a waste of resources and manpower. Outside of COIN they are sitting around not doing much. And other than SOF most of the regular military is out of the COIN business.