And again, the alternative is? Not to provide CAS at all? Precision munitions from 30,000 feet?
As others have already stated, that's pretty much the job of any CAS; go get your butt shot off while trying to destroy the other guy first.
Just because MANPADS are becoming more dangerous and more ubiquitous doesn't mean that the job of CAS no longer exists, it simply means that the ongoing battle of offense versus defense continues. You adapt, you move on.
If the Air Force wants to create a new, better, A-10 (as the A-10 was a new remake of the A-1), and then retire the A-10, I don't think many people would be complaining. But the fact is, the Air Force keeps coming up with rather asinine, nonsensical, and downright lies about why they should get rid of the A-10, but yet they have nothing to replace it with.
The whole argument of "But it's a dangerous environment, it might not survive" doesn't quite fly when you're talking about fighting wars. That's what wars are, dangerous environments in which people might not survive. It doesn't mean that you still don't fight them (ignoring the fact that yes, we've certainly have made poor choices in which wars to start/fight in lately).
As others have already stated, that's pretty much the job of any CAS; go get your butt shot off while trying to destroy the other guy first.
Just because MANPADS are becoming more dangerous and more ubiquitous doesn't mean that the job of CAS no longer exists, it simply means that the ongoing battle of offense versus defense continues. You adapt, you move on.
If the Air Force wants to create a new, better, A-10 (as the A-10 was a new remake of the A-1), and then retire the A-10, I don't think many people would be complaining. But the fact is, the Air Force keeps coming up with rather asinine, nonsensical, and downright lies about why they should get rid of the A-10, but yet they have nothing to replace it with.
The whole argument of "But it's a dangerous environment, it might not survive" doesn't quite fly when you're talking about fighting wars. That's what wars are, dangerous environments in which people might not survive. It doesn't mean that you still don't fight them (ignoring the fact that yes, we've certainly have made poor choices in which wars to start/fight in lately).