Quote:
Originally Posted by mpipes
Any grunt will tell you that effective CAS is from a plane under 2,000 ft and 400 kts.
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No any grunt will tell that effective CAS is putting ordnance on target, don’t care how slow or fast.
Quote:
Originally Posted by swaghauler
That's why the Key West agreement NEEDS TO GO! Whatever you do, don't say that a 30-year-old plane is too old to rehab around any B52 pilots. The B52s have been flying for 60 years and are expected to serve for about 10 more years after their recent update.
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The Key West agreement is not a bad as it seem to be all it did was to allow they Navy to retain its own combat air arm. The Army would be allowed to retain aviation assets for reconnaissance and medical evacuation purposes and the Air Force would have control of all strategic air assets, and most tactical and logistic functions as well. At this time air force was less than a year old and was fighting for it share of money.
The real damage was cause by Pace-Finletter MOU 1952 which removed the weight restrictions on helicopters that the U.S. Army could use and widened the range of tasks the Army's helicopters could be used for. However, it also created an arbitrary 5,000 pound weight restriction that limits the Army's ability to fly fixed-wing aircraft.
However it is the Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966 that effective kills any hopes that the army might have had a CAS aircraft. In the agreement The U.S. Army agreed to give up its fixed-wing tactical airlift aircraft, while the U.S. Air Force relinquished its claim to most forms of rotary wing aircraft.
While you are correct about the B52, the 93 B52H that Airforce flies have been updated regularly due it consent need for the airframe. The 600+ A-10 have maintained not so much as it need for CAS has shrunk. The Afghanistan war was the best for the aircraft as it showed the need for a CAS aircraft. Also in 2006 the Airforce launched it service life extension program for the A-10 which put in 2040 before another need the B52H is 2045.
I’d also like to point out On June 7 2017, Air Force R&D Chief Lt. General Arnold Bunch testified that the service “is committed to maintaining a minimum of six A-10 combat squadrons flying and contributing to the fight through 2030 with additional A-10 force structure is contingent on future budget levels and force structure requirements.