Tutti in coro .....
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A-10 non serve più .....
Technology Makes CAS Platform Agnostic .....
Otto Kreisher (2/26/2015)
A senior Air Force officer noted that the basic elements of an air component commander providing close air support to a ground forces commander, through the “translator” of a controller, have not changed since he started flying A-10s in 1987.
“But really everything else has changed,” he added.
In a Feb. 24 background briefing on the elements of close air support, which has become controversial with the Air Force’s attempt to phase out the A-10s, the senior officer and three younger pilots with experience in different aircraft emphasized the changes that the improved technology in aircraft, precision weapons, tightly followed rules of engagement, and intensive training since 9/11 have made to CAS.
“It’s really platform agnostic,” said a veteran F-16 pilot and weapons school instructor.
An F-15E pilot noted that pilots of his age know “nothing but this war and close air support. We know what it is, how important it is.”
The third pilot said that due to the nature of the post-9/11 wars, “close air support IS the mission, for every platform, for the F-16, F-15, B-1, A-10. It’s the primary mission we train for.”
When preparing for a combat deployment, he said, “You train for the mission set you expect to fly. In the last 14 years, that’s been close air support.”
F-15 Pilot: Air Force Cares About CAS .....
Otto Kreisher (2/26/2015)
A veteran F-15E pilot with extensive experience providing close air support in Iraq and Afghanistan protested the often-heard charge that “the Air Force doesn’t care about CAS. I have to tell you, that is so untrue. We care about the mission,” he said.
The pilot said that when he filled out his request for his aircraft assignment, he asked for the F-15 first and A-10 second, “because I wanted to do close air support … To say we don’t care hurts a bit,” he said in a Feb. 24 background briefing on CAS, which has become a heated subject with the Air Force’s effort to phase out the A-10s.
The pilot noted there is a sign on the door of the air operations center at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, that all flight crews read when going out for a mission.
It says: “The mission is support of the guy with a rifle,” he related.
“Everything else is less important.”
He added, “We knew why we were there.”
When they scrambled on a mission to support Americans on the ground, he said, all the ground support airmen came out to the jets “just in case we needed anything [and] to make sure we got out to make that mission, because they knew Americans needed our support.”
McHugh: CAS Mission Critical Regardless of Platform .....
Marc V. Schanz (2/26/2015)
The close air support mission is “absolutely critical” to the Army, but the Army and Air Force agree the mission itself is “platform agnostic,” Army Secretary John McHugh told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
The future of close air support is a “strategic question that will be addressed and re-addressed over time,” McHugh said.
As technology and capabilities change, the expectations will change as well, he added.
“I think it’s important to note, like the Army, the Air Force is making some very tough choices, not because they wish to, but because budget circumstances have forced us into that environment,” he said.
And, as such, USAF has determined the A-10 is an “unaffordable” aircraft.
However, the important thing is that when needed the Army can “have explosive ordnance on enemy positions,” said McHugh.
How USAF performs this task “is a matter of ... their discussions and decisions,” he added.
Recently the Air Force has sought to restate its commitment to the CAS mission, and is meeting with the other services next month to discuss CAS lessons, tactics, and future plans.
McHugh: No Army A-10s .....
Marc V. Schanz (2/26/2015)
The Army is not interested in assuming operation of the A-10 fleet if the Air Force succeeds in its divestiture efforts, Army Secretary John McHugh told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Though he said there is essentially “no chance” such a scenario would play out, McHugh also acknowledged that "anything can happen ... but that’s not a topic of casual conversation.”
He said the Army is taking “dramatic steps” to reconfigure its own aviation assets in order to generate long-term savings and the A-10 is not “something to consider” in these reorganizations.
The fixed-wing CAS mission is “an Air Force mission and it should be. And I’m sure the Air Force feels the same way,” added McHugh.
In addition, the Army doesn’t really care what platform the Air Force uses to conduct the mission “as long as [ordnances dropped] are timely and effective, we are comfortable with that. And every assurance that we have received says that they will be.”
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