[Forgiven_Sinner]

I'm looking forward to the lessons learned from the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. To my uneducated eyes, it seems that helicopters are not appropriate for close in support of ground troops. This leads me to conclude we must accellerate the implementation of the Marines' Osprey aircraft and possibly design a replacement for the A-10. Ideally, I'd like to see a VTOL version of the A-10. That would give it more flexibility, while still retaining the tough, AA resistant airframe.

[Paleo Conservative]

To my uneducated eyes, it seems that helicopters are not appropriate for close in support of ground troops.

Part of the problem is the division of aviation capabilities between the Air Force and Army. The Air Force flys all fixed wing land based fighters and bombers, while the Army flys rotary wing aircraft. The problem is that the Air Force fighter jocks want to fly the hottest performing fighters not low altitude ground support attack aircraft. Prior to the Gulf War, the Air Force wanted to replace A-10's with F-16's. Either the close support role either fixed or rotary winged needs to be part of the Army, or the Air Force must be required to cooperate with the Army and maintatain the fixed wing capability.

I like the idea of a VTOL A-10 replacement. I also think such a design would be useful for the Marines if modified for carrier operations. I'm not sure that stealth is all that important for the role of close support, but if possible an A-10 replacement could be made more stealthy.