Could USAF buy a light strike platform?
J
UST A FEW months ago most
experts would have said that it was
inconceivable that the US Air Force
would spend a single dollar on a
new light attack platform. Surely that
would risk draining money from its
key F-35, KC-46 tanker, Long Range Strike
— Bomber and T-X trainer programs? Yet in
March two senior air force offi cers hinted
that this might just be on the cards.
It may be the only way that they can push
through the controversial proposal to chop
the A-10C Thunderbolt II fl eet.
Opponents of the ‘Warthog’ retirement
plan claim that no other type in the
inventory possesses the A-10’s prowess over
the battlefi eld, supporting troops on the
ground. Plus, they say that the F-35A — the
USAF’s stated A-10 replacement — is too
sophisticated a platform to be down low
in the weeds swooping over the heads of
soldiers and too big a hammer to crack small
nuts when needed.
So when Gen Mark Welsh told Congress
that the USAF needs to ‘look at how we
transition to a future capability for
low and high threat battlefi elds’,
and when Gen ‘Hawk’ Carlisle
told reporters at the Pentagonthat ‘there may be an infl ection point where
we need more capacity at a lower cost’, were
they hinting at the possible purchase of
something like an Beechcraft AT-6, Textron
AirLand Scorpion or Embraer A-29 Super
Tucano for the USAF?
The only way this would make any
fi nancial sense would be to replace the entire
A-10C fl eet with a small, expertly-trained,
fl eet of these newer battlefi eld support
aircraft, able to ply their trade in low-end
threat confl icts where an expensive F-
was not deemed essential. The USAF is
already operating A-29s with the 81st Fighter
Squadron at Moody AFB to train pilots from
Afghanistan.
Although budgets are tight, and more cuts
are looming, the USAF may be forced into
spending money in order to save money.
sophisticated a platform to be down low
in the weeds swooping over the heads of
soldiers and too big a hammer to crack smallSo when Gen Mark Welsh told Congress
that the USAF needs to ‘look at how we
transition to a future capability for
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: [email protected]J
osé M. Ramos is an
award-winning
aviation
photographer based in
central Florida. He has
been documenting US
naval aviation since
the age of 18 and, as a
qualifi ed select
passenger, he has
fl own in almost every
tactical aircraft in the Navy inventory from- He attributes his passion for
photography and aviation to his father,
who gave him his fi rst camera and raised
him on stories of fl ying with the Cuban
Army Air Corps as an observer. José is also
a contract representative for Nikon
Professional Services and has spoken on
aviation photography subjects for Nikon
USA at a variety of venues.
CONTRIBUTOR PROFILE
JOSÉ M. RAMOS
Could the US Air Force
be moving towards the
procurement of a low-end
close air support platform
such as these depicted
here: the Beechcraft AT-
and Textron AirLand
Scorpion, or the Embraer
A-29 Super Tucano?
Beechcraft/Jim Haseltine
and Neil Dunridge4 May 2015 http://www.combataircraft.netCOMBAT EDGE
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