Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
Every time I click this thread to see the updates, I wonder: Would I want an A10 scrambled to make some gun passes or one of multiple drones that are just orbiting overhead to nearly instantly drop a maverick/jdam/munition to a location? How valid is this close air support idea? Can it be done with AC-130s? Seems like the ability of a forward observer to call in an instant strike with a drone at nearly any time would be pretty powerful. The "drones" may have a ways to go, but they are being developed and implemented at a pretty astonishing rate.
Two of my former students were Hawg drivers in a CAS scenario in 2013. There was a Predator on-station, as well as two F-16s.
None of these platforms could employ, because the bad guys were too close.
The Hawgs were cleared Danger Close in a fight that took more than an hour. They used ALL of their 30mm (1100 rounds each, as opposed to the F-35's non-existent gun of 180 rounds of 25mm).
When the bad guys started to retreat, the A-10s used Mk-82s and 2.75 inch rockets on them. At least 18 bad guys converted to "non-hostiles."
All the Americans---65 of them---survived, for one reason: in CAS, the A-10 has the highest level of precision.
That precision is from the GAU-8 Avenger cannon, and no other aircraft carries it, or CAN carry it.