Air Force Chief of Staff
Gen. Mark Welsh thinks the service needs a new low tech close air support
platform “in the relatively near to mid term future.” Welsh added that such a capability
is needed “if the money would allow it. It doesn’t today.” However, USAF would
“like to have something like that, that operates more efficiently than the
other airplanes we have today, that brings more firepower that we can use in a
low-threat environment.” Welsh made his remarks at a Defense One symposium in
Washington D.C. on April 22 in the context of whether future USAF aircraft will
be manned versus unmanned. The CAS aircraft is “probably going to be a manned
platform. I don’t see that as being unmanned in the next 20-30 years,” Welsh
said. Welsh’s comments dovetail with recent remarks made by Air Combat Command
boss Gen. Hawk Carlisle, who has said ACC is looking to augment its
low
end CAS capability in the near future, and Welsh has pushed ACC to closely
scrutinize the
future
of USAF’s CAS mission. Congress, thus far, has blocked USAF attempts to
divest the A-10 fleet, and opponents maintain the Warthog’s operating costs are
lower than any manned aircraft USAF flies.
