Author Topic: The U.S. Air Force Need More Than 300 Light Attack Aircraft (Now)  (Read 338 times)

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rangerrebew

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The U.S. Air Force Need More Than 300 Light Attack Aircraft (Now)
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Lowering flight-hour costs later in the long war isn’t the main issue.
Dave Foster [2]

Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein agrees that Sen. John McCain’s recommendation for “300 low-cost, light-attack fighters” [3] is a “great idea.” [4] Analysts have noted several merits including stemming the decline in platform numbers, improving dwell times over target areas [5],  lower flight hour costs, and more stick time for USAF pilots. [6] These are good things. But the real issue is the substantial ongoing attrition of 4th-generation airframes that will only partially be mitigated by the light-attack fighters after they’ve arrived in inventory. That’s why we need them now.

The light-attack-fighter idea is indeed great, but it is still just a suggestion. It is also just a possible Air Force plan, which will thus not fully unburden Navy and Marine Corps tactical avaiation. Each service has its specialties, particularly in the missions and phasing for the early days of a new operation. However, history shows that once a war (usually a “small war”) matures to stasis over a number of years, each service is both expected and wants to participate, regardless of its “big war” roles, specialties, and tacit raison d’être. So, if the USAF of the future brings its low-cost, light attack fighters to the long war, we can expect that 4th-generation and probably 5th-generation Navy and Marine strike aircraft will be there too.
 
Source URL (retrieved on January 26, 2017): http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-air-force-need-more-300-light-attack-aircraft-now-19188