Why No One Is Buying the Air Force’s Argument To Ditch the A-10

[MADem]

http://cdn.defenseone.com/defenseone/interstitial.html?v=2.1.1&rf=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenseone.com%2Fmanagement%2F2014%2F05%2Fwhy-no-one-buying-air-forces-argument-ditch-10%2F84949%2F

....Truth is, the debate is not really about the A10—it is about the Air Force’s reputation and its perceived lack of dedication to the CAS mission. Divesting the one plane most visible to ground troops and perceived as the most optimized for CAS simply fuels the suspicion that the Air Force’s last priority is supporting the troops on the ground.

The Air Force’s own rhetoric about the need to “take risk” across the inventory and the value of “multi-mission” aircraft, focuses on business, not war, and drowns out the solid facts about how CAS has been and will be conducted in the future. And it only adds fuel to the fire when Chief of Staff, General Welsh says that various multi-mission platforms can do the mission “…maybe not as well, but reasonably well.” What, exactly, is “reasonably well?”

Consider a recent heated exchange between Senator John McCain during testimony by the Secretary and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The Senator was incredulous when told by Secretary Deborah James and General Mark Welsh that a variety of aircraft, including the high-altitude B-1 bomber, would be able to fill the gap in the CAS mission:

“That’s a remarkable statement. That doesn’t comport with any experience I’ve ever had, nor anyone I know has ever had,” he said. “You’re throwing in the B-1 bomber as a close air support weapon to replace the A-10. This is the reason why there is … such incredible skepticism here in the Congress.” When General Welsh broke in to provide some data, Senator McCain cut him off saying, “General, please don’t insult my intelligence.”....

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Well, after years of the Navy reluctant to...

play a second banana support roles ferrying troops or supporting beach landings, who would be surprised by this attitude by the Air Force...

[Gothmog]

2. I hope that the Air Force keeps the A 10

The warthog is a great plane

[bemildred]

3. It's all about the money. nt

[AverageJoe90]

4. I agree with this. The A-10 is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of aviation hardware ever made.

Why replace it? It still serves a rather valuable purpose for the U.S. Navy, and the Marines as well, just as the B-52 did for the Air Force.

[caraher]

5. Did people read the article?

It's actually an argument against saving the A-10 for what may be mostly sentimental reasons. The author does not endorse saving the A-10; instead, it is a plea for the Air Force and Army to look carefully at whether the A-10 is truly necessary for CAS (and strongly suggests that it will not) and talk to Congress about mission rather than platform. She's asking the Air Force to do a better job showing its constituents (Congress and the Army) that it is serious about CAS, regardless of whether the A-10 is critical to that mission. The main beef is the technocratic nature of the sales pitch the USAF uses, which tends to reinforce worries that the Air Force doesn't care much about CAS capabilities.

[MADem]

6. No, she doesn't, but she's not going to get her way, near term. Congress is hanging on to it

for at least a year.

The article had a lot of detail in it notwithstanding the slant towards divestment of the platform. I thought it had some interesting arguments in it.