Airman Scholar Sp05-1.indd - United States Air Force Academy

Platforms, however, are moving away from A-10
type aircraft and becoming less mission-based. Advances in
technology and new tactics have made mission titles for aircraft
obsolete. Strategic bombers, attack fighters, and fighter/
bomber designations are becoming combined. Desert Storm
in 1991 saw the use of B-52 bombers as CAS platforms. 22
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi
Freedom (OIF) employed B-1s, B-52s, F-16s, F-15Es, and
A-10s in support of CAS missions, though each aircraft was
designed for another mission (long range strategic bombing
(B-52), low level nuclear strikes (B-1), short range inexpensive
fighter (F-16), and air superiority tactical fighter (F-15). 23
Each aircraft has been refitted with avionics that allow it to
execute the CAS mission.
The legs of CAS are also being improved. The introduction
of the F/A-22 will exhibit increased survivability
because of its stealth, speed, and avionics. Like the F/A-22,
the F-35, which is slated to be the true CAS platform replacement,
has similar features to the F/A-22. Neither, however,
has the same robust construction, payload, or main gun of
the A-10. When examined with respect to the effectiveness
of replacing the A-10, the Air Force argues that there
is a dwindling need for aircraft such as the A-10 in modern
CAS operations because technology has created the ability
to achieve precision at a distance – distance that is needed to
keep aircraft out of range from enemy anti-aircraft fire.
The changing operational environment has played
a massive roll in the Air Force’s CAS evolution. Modern
combat operations take place in areas that are usually
defended by SAMs threats. Less expensive than having an
air force, many countries have IADs that center on the use
of SAMs and AAA. Such systems are much cheaper to buy,
maintain, and train crews for than are aircraft on alert. To
counter this surface-to-air threat, the Air Force flies at altitudes
at or above 25,000 feet for as many missions as possible
because at 25,000, seventy-five percent of the ground threat is
negated. 24 The A-10 cannot be used effectively at these altitudes
for CAS, but aircraft like the F-15E, F-16, B-52, B-1,
F/A-22, and F-35 can. What makes these aircraft effective at
such altitudes is not dependant on actual design as much as it
is on avionics and munitions capabilities.
Munitions give the CAS body the ability to physically
touch the enemy. All the systems in a human body
cannot help a boxer in a fight if he does not have hands. CAS
is equally vulnerable without munitions. Without these
“hands,” none of the aircraft capabilities would be of any
advantage to CAS. Mets, a premier scholar, has noted that
the U.S. Air Force spends a considerable amount of money on
research and development of aircraft but little on the development
of weapons. 25 This is a terrible mistake on behalf of the
16
Air Force because the CAS body needs a variety of munitions.
Light weapons like the small diameter bomb are extremely
important so aircraft can load more weapons without increasing
weight. Furthermore, these weapons must give CAS the
ability to provide a solid fist- punch (2,000 lb bomb on building),
or a finger poke (PGM into a C 2 structure), but this
ability correlates to the munitions rather than the aircraft.
Although the Air Force has paid less attention to
munitions development, which is not to say that they have
neglected it altogether. Research and development in the field
has been ongoing. LGBs debuted in the early 1970’s and saw
limited operational use in Vietnam. 26 Since then, there have
been multiple munitions advancements to provide airpower
with much needed accuracy. As Mets points out, this new
surge to produce weapons with launch-and-leave capabilities
and pin-point accuracy started with the maturation of the
GPS at the end of the first Gulf War in which the GPS signals
are received by small computers on the weapon. 27 Once
launched, satellite signals continuously up-date the bomb or
missile until impact. The key capability of the aircraft now
becomes its avionics. The aircraft operators have to input the
target coordinates and launch the weapon. Only aircraft with
computers on board that can “talk” to the weapons are able to
exploit PGM capabilities. JDAM, which is the GPS package
on a Mk-80 class bomb body, are becoming the main air-toground
weapons of choice because they provide all weather,
night-day drop capabilities. 28 LGBs are still used, but they are
susceptible to fog, clouds, foliage, or any other medium that
can block a laser beam from the targeteer (whether it be an
aircraft or ground party) to the target.
It would be presumptuous to say that any aircraft can
now become a CAS platform with proper avionics and guided
bombs, but such a trend is becoming more apparent with the
development of new technology. The days of single mission
aircraft are coming to an end, evidenced by the F/A-22 and F-
35. Multipurpose or multi-role, however one wants to define
it, is the catch phrase of modern aircraft design. From 25,000
feet or higher, the Air Force is becoming capable of providing
CAS without the need to build aircraft for a threat environment
it can fly over.
The Nervous System
The AOC is the processing center and workhorse for
the CFACC, where the ATO is built and executed. The ATO
is the daily physical list of air operations that will be executed
over a period of twelve hours. Within it, aircraft are allocated
to a variety of commanders and assigned everything from
their missions and targets to what they will be armed with.
The AOC has two primary responsibilities, often broken
down into Combat Plans and Combat Operations. The