USMCFLYR

Ah see....you have forgotten short field ops using field arresting systems like Bogue Field/AM-2 matting.
The Prowlers can operate off ship and have. The D's have also carrier qualified though it seems it was thought the deck cycles might be too long for them IIRC.
In any case T45 - expeditionary doesn't ONLY mean carrier capable in the MAGTFs eyes. Expeditionary also means the VSTOL platforms operating off sections of roadways or from small prepared pads - though when given the chance to move forward with the ground troops during OIF they stayed right at home at Al Jabber with the rest of us 'land based' crews and that sweet airfield!

A10Penny

I'll give our leadership the benefit of the doubt and assume they're good people trying to do the right thing. But they are making a horrible strategic decision. The AF can't afford everything we need to modernize, but there are far better choices than cutting the A-10 to save the money. I have zero faith in AF leadership, because they are presenting this as a fait accompli and squashing all internal debate, rather than putting in the effort to make the best decision.

JamesNoBrakes

Trade this for the next generation bomber (and make the NGB a drone). Throwing a bunch of money into making a new manned stealth bomber at this point seems to border on lunacy. It's one thing to have assets nearby, from a ship, land base, etc, launch and take out some precision targets (likely will rely heavily on drones too, but that's another argument), but it's way way more ridiculous to launch some billion dollar airplane from the middle of the US with people on board on a 30 hour mission to take out a few targets. For what it takes to do that we can probably just crash a drone on a suicide mission with ordnance and still come out ahead. Just rig up CRJ-200s and E-145s, we got a nearly endless supply.

LivingInMEM

As far as the Army, etc goes, they always have the option of fully or even partially funding the A-10 and leaving it in the USAF. I bet even if they coughed up 50% of the O&M, the USAF would acquiesce and come up with the other 50%. But, it won't happen. If you can't see them paying 50%, how do you see them paying 100% if the A-10s were transferred over to them. The USAF wants to divest of the fleet to save money, funds won't come with the airplanes. Also, if you want to know what the big Army thinks about FW-CAS, go back to 2009 and more recently and see what restrictions they placed on the employment of CAS and what the two most popular commanders over there wrote in their policy letters about when it would be appropriate to employ CAS. These stories that were previously posted are nice and motivating, but for every TIC that got CAS, there were 10 that didn't. "Want" and "need" are two different things, and the proof is in the spending. Thinking that the priorities of the individual soldier and Big Army are the same is as silly as thinking the priorities of the individual pilot and Big AF are the same.

LivingInMEM

James, what if the target moves, the priority of the targets change, or a new high-priority target pops up in the many hours between takeoff and the strike/crash into the target and the enemy inhibits the radio spectrum enough to sever comms with the unmanned CRJ or NGB? Should we just assume that the vehicle in question will just indiscriminately bomb or crash into an unverified target? It's amazing how so many smart people are so perplexed by problems that are so obviously and simply solved by you!

JamesNoBrakes

Then you update your drone's flight plan, if the russians can launch a space shuttle 30 years ago and land it on a runway with no people, we can surely figure this one out. I mean, you could assume the same problem with manned flight, that the enemy will jam radio communications and no "update" would be possible, same problem, no different outcome.

JamesNoBrakes

Major T. J. "King" Kong scenario you say....

Fluglehrer

I remember seeing that happen before...
General "Buck" Turgidson gets excited - YouTube
and
Dr. Strangelove (7/8) Movie CLIP - Kong Rides the Bomb (1964) HD - YouTube

jungle

Looks like we could get some of these cheaply, in fact we may have already.

Iraq Receives First Fighter Jets From "Our Russian Friends" | Zero Hedge

rickair7777

There's probably something to this too.