as an Infantry Marine, I can tell you unequivocally that when it comes to fast movers, the A10 is the only platform you really want covering your ass in a tight situation.
It is mind blowing to many of us that the USMC didn't buy up all of these things when the Air Force wanted to dump them. Yeah, yeah they can't fly off a carrier. So what. What they can do is hang in there when bullets are flying, loiter for a fairly long time and fly low and slow enough to actually see what's going on on the ground...(yeah, that 30MM gatling gun is pretty handy too..heh)
Side note: the only pilots that ever allowed us to shoot 81mm suppression over the top of the ingress routes to target when training to run CAS were the ANG A10 guys. All the active duty fast movers weren't game, and that included the MC Harrier pilots....
It is mind blowing to many of us that the USMC didn't buy up all of these things when the Air Force wanted to dump them. Yeah, yeah they can't fly off a carrier. So what. What they can do is hang in there when bullets are flying, loiter for a fairly long time and fly low and slow enough to actually see what's going on on the ground...(yeah, that 30MM gatling gun is pretty handy too..heh)
Side note: the only pilots that ever allowed us to shoot 81mm suppression over the top of the ingress routes to target when training to run CAS were the ANG A10 guys. All the active duty fast movers weren't game, and that included the MC Harrier pilots....