Air Force Considers Stealthy A-10 CAS Replacement - not F-35?

Air Force Magazine - Stealthy Son of A-10?

​The Air Force will consider developing a new dedicated close air support platform capable of operating in contested airspace; a follow-on to the A-10, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle said Thursday. Speaking with reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Carlisle said that such a platform “may be something … we need to look at in the future, depending on what’s happening. Nothing is off the table.” Carlisle said he believes “we’ll have to perform close air support in contested environments” given that adversaries are growing more sophisticated. They “are going to try to figure out how to … not let us do that,” he said, so a new platform may be required. The idea is not a response to critics of USAF’s plan to retire the A-10, Carlisle insisted. USAF has “always been dedicated to the mission of support to the ground component” and takes the mission seriously, he maintained. Airspace denial is already a tough challenge, and the need to “close … gaps and seams” in future capability “I think (is) something we have to be cognizant of.” He added that for the near-term, “there may be something that we can do with legacy platforms to make them better” at delivering CAS. The A-10 is “significantly more vulnerable in a contested environment than other airplanes … and what provides that mission set in the future is something we’ll continue to look at … it’s something that’s got to be in the discussion,” he added.


A-10: Close Air Support Wonder Weapon Or Boneyard Bound? « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary

ACC Head: Follow-On to A-10 Aircraft Possible
Next month, the service will host representatives from the other services in a weeklong summit on the close air support mission, in order to figure out a way forward.
"We're bringing Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy folks together at the 06 level and down to do these working groups," Carlisle said. The real purpose is [to figure out] where we've been, what we've learned."
"I think everything is getting wrapped around the A-10," he added. "Ultimately, we are committed to that mission we have always been committed and we always will be, and it's to try and get back to the focus on the mission area."

General: ‘We Don’t Have a Replacement’ for A-10, U-2 | Defense Tech

The Air Force’s Awesome Attack Plane Has a Pretty Sad Replacement — War Is Boring — Medium

But the JSF just can’t do the job. Besides having a terrible view of the battlefield, the F-35 is also too fast and lightly built to loiter over a hot ambush zone — and its 25-millimeter gun comes with just 180 rounds, compared to the more than 1,100 bullets an A-10 carries. It’s worth pointing out that the two Warthogs over the Afghan battle apparently fired all their ammunition.

“Note the actions the F-35 is incapable to perform,” said Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, D.C. “Among them long time loiter, low altitude observation of the problem, multiple gun passes with extreme accuracy.”

These things saved American lives. The A-10’s replacement? Perhaps not.