Here's exactly what the A-10 does, and why the Air Force would be crazy to retire it
A new report from the Government Accountability Office dives deep into the all important question the Air Force and the Senate Armed Services Committee have been wrestling with for years — should, or can, the Air Force divest itself of the A-10?
The report, thoroughly researched and evaluated, gives a clear answer — definitely not.
Even with the looming adoption of the all important F-35, the report finds that retiring the A-10 would leave significant capability gaps behind, and that the Air Force currently has concrete plans to bridge those gaps.
In the slides below, find out exactly what the A-10 does, and how the Air Force, whether they admit it or not, just can't live without it.
Here's an overview of the Department of Defense's close air support (CAS) platforms:
Government Accountability Office
This graphic shows that the US actually employs many different CAS platforms, but the A-10 remains unique among them.
The A-10 has the cheapest operating cost of any of the manned aircraft pictured here. It also has its famous gun.
No other plane in the Air Force's inventory packs anything close to the A-10's GAU-8 Avenger 30 mm gun.
Source: Government Accountability Office
Primary mission: CAS
USAF
Description: Air action by fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft against hostile targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces and that require detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of those forces.
Why the A-10 does it best: The simple reason the A-10 community dominates at CAS is their training. They train twice, in some cases three times, as much on CAS compared to other pilot communities.
This graphic shows the full details:
USAF
Also, the A-10 has the benefit of its gun. The gun can strike targets more precisely and than even the best, million-dollar guided munitions in the Air Force's arsenal.
"It's a low-collateral-damage weapon, pinpoint accurate, and we employ high-explosive incendiary rounds so nothing's walking away from that if they get hit," Air Force Col. Sean McCarthy said of the A-10's gun.
Source: Government Accountability Office
Primary mission: Forward Air Control (Airborne) (FAC(A))
Jake Melampy / US Air Force
Description: A specifically trained and qualified aviation officer who exercises control from the air of aircraft engaged in CAS of ground troops. The FAC(A) also provides coordination and terminal attack control for CAS missions, as well as locating, marking, and attacking ground targets using other fire support assets.
Why the A-10 does it best: Again, it comes down to the incredible training the A-10 community undergoes. A-10 pilots train about 4 times as much as F-16 pilots do for FAC(A), and are required to "Attain mission proficiency" in this role "while F-16 FAC(A)s and future F-35 FAC(A)s are only required to have familiarity with the mission," the report states.
About half of the Air Force's airborne Forward Air Controllers are A-10 pilots, and for good reason it would seem.
Source: Government Accountability Office
See the rest of the story at Business Insider