The F-35A is the only game in town so this view of the plane's close air support role makes sense:
“When you are in a firefight, the first thing infantry wants to do it get on that radio to adjust fire for mortars and locate targets with close air support with planes or helicopters. You want fires. The F-35 has increased survivability and it will play a decisive role in the support of ground combat,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters at the Association of the United States Army Annual Symposium.
I've been a supporter of the A-10 against Air Force efforts to prematurely retire the dedicated close air support plane to free up resources for the F-35.
Yet I recognize that in the modern ground-based air defense environment, the low-flying A-10 may not be survivable. The Air Force has a point that only a high-flying stealth F-35A can survive to put ordnance on target.
But the A-10 is the only dedicated close air support plane the Air Force has. And it remains very useful in a permissive air environment, as in counterinsurgencies.
And it might be a mobile source of firepower if enemy forces pierce our lines and move out of their air defense bubble.
If the Air Force does field a low-cost close air support plane for counterinsurgency, that addresses one of my concerns.
But my other ground support concern (I have an air defense concern too, given the increasing threat of cheap drones that a high flying F-35 will not be able to touch. But I digress.) is that the Air Force really doesn't like to do close air support when it would rather fight enemy aircraft to control the skies and strike deep behind enemy lines, which the Air Force thinks is far more important than supporting maneuver units on the ground in contact with the enemy.
Will the Air Force use the F-35 for close air support when it has so many other missions to achieve that are of more importance to the Air Force?
Milley hopes the Air Force will provide needed close air support for the Army. I'm not terribly sure the Air Force will and I bet Milley isn't all that confident either.
