The F-16 might not be a bad replacement for the A-10, actually

I watch the commentary on the proposed withdrawal of the A-10 with interest. Normally I wouldn’t get involved, but this article has compelled me to respond.

First of all, let me start out by saying that I do think the A-10 is probably the finest CAS aircraft flying today, with the possible exception of the AC-130. I don’t want to get into the debate about whether the Air Force should retain it, other than saying that if you are going to advance that argument, you really need to explain how you think the force should be structured given the current fiscal pressure. Simply saying you’d cancel the F-35 doesn’t cut it — it’s a political reality with parts being made in over 40 states, so no matter what you think of it, you’d better get used to seeing it. No, my major point is this: it is a fundamental misunderstanding of air forces (and I include the USN and USMC in this) to think that only the A-10 does CAS.

I have news for Mr Trevithick. The F-16 does conduct CAS. Every single day, in the skies above Afghanistan and previously Iraq. I’m not sure what Mr Trevithick thinks the US and allied F-16s are doing in Afghanistan, but in fact, many more CAS missions are executed by F-16s than by A-10s, and it’s not a passing fad. F-16 units generally do more CAS than any other mission by a long way and have done for over 10 years — just ask any pilot. The same could be said of the F-15E, and arguably the F/A-18. Now, I’m not saying it is the 100% dedicated, optimized CAS platform the A-10 is, but it is certainly not the abject failure this article depicts it as. We’re not hearing reports from Afghanistan that it’s not up to the job — and a good thing too, as the major metric in delivering CAS at the operational level is getting to the TIC on time- which just wouldn’t be possible if the only aircraft that we could use for CAS was the A-10.

The criticism that the F-16 didn’t carry precision weapons during the Gulf War is less than relevant. Times have changed, and Mr Trevithick even points out that the A-10 and the F-16 can carry the exact same weapons — so, apart from the gun (and yes, that’s not insignificant), weapons aren’t the issue here.

Staying with weapons, again, the criticism that the F-35 can only carry a few weapons in its weapons bays may also be a little disingenuous. Advocates of the A-10 point out that it doesn’t need stealth because you’re unlikely to be doing CAS against the kind of threats the F-35 was designed to defeat. If that’s the case, there should be nothing to stop the F-35 carrying weapons on its external hardpoints too — and if it does that, it can actually carry the same weapon load as the A-10, stand fast the gun.

Losing the A-10 gun from the inventory will cause a big gap. It’s probably the second-best weapon the USAF has for employment close to friendlies (in my limited experience, I’d rate the AC-130 weapon slightly higher, but that’s not available to general purpose forces). However, it’s not the only weapon you can use there — the Army and Marine Corps use attack helicopters to great effect, and more advanced weapons such as the mark 2 small-diameter bomb and missiles like Hellfire are beginning to fill this gap. Not ideal, but my point is that, as loved as it is by ground forces who like its reassuring presence and the visceral effect of the gun, it’s not as though withdrawing the A-10 from the inventory will leave troops out in the open without effective CAS.

Now, I don’t know how well the F-35 will turn out. Nevertheless, I do know that the Marine Corps (who specialize in CAS) seem to do fine with the F/A-18 and the AV-8B — and intend to conduct CAS in future using the F-35 variant that doesn’t even have a gun. However, you don’t hear people saying that the USMC have never been interested in CAS and just want a shiny new toy. Why the double standard?

We could perhaps give the Air Force a little bit more credit here. Reactions to the intended divestment of the A-10 included some strong statements about CAS needing to be delivered by dedicated units — it looks like the Air Force has taken this point on board, even to the point of ensuring that the dedicated CAS squadrons will be staffed by ex A-10 pilots. People also exhorted the flying branch to look at an appropriate cheap and simple replacement for the A-10 — they are also doing that. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Air Force does care about CAS — it just can’t find a way of balancing the books.