Huh:
While the U.S. Air Force hasn't closed the door to a possible light attack program, efforts to procure a new turboprop aircraft for training with allies appear to have lost steam as other priorities have come to the fore.
Service leaders in recent weeks said they're looking at the possibility of another light attack "experiment," one that could involve helicopters, drones and even participation by allies who already have light attack aircraft.
My view has been that the light attack exploration was merely a means to kill the A-10 by holding open the prospect of a dedicated close air support plane to help the Army until the A-10 could be retired and scrapped.
Although I underestimated the Air Force by assuming they'd actually buy some light attack aircraft to give the image of caring about close air support.
Jointness talks but money walks. And the Air Force is all about spending money on the F-35.
Mind you, I'm not a blind defender of the aging A-10. The Air Force has a valid point about whether the decades-old plane can hope to survive flying low over a modern battlefield with the exponentially greater air defense threat that has developed since the plane was introduced.
For me, the question isn't the platform, it's the priority that the Air Force places on close air support:
The main problem about the demise of the A-10 is that a dedicated close air support plane and its culture of supporting the Army die, too.
With just the multi-purpose F-35A, the Air Force will always have higher priorities to attend to than supporting Army troops.
If the Air Force designated a certain number of F-35 squadrons as close air support units with the weapons and training to back up the designation, I wouldn't whine about losing the aging A-10 made for a different era.
I'd like to see the Air Force give some indication that they even want the close air support mission more than they simply want to deny the Army the ability to provide its own close air support the way the Marines do.
