The AF generals do not give two shits about the ground troops

And the fact that they’re continually trying to kill it

What’s the problem?

More powerful engines?
More fuel?
Durable airframe with more ordinance capacity?
You got it!!!

A10 will survive in theater much better than an A29

In SE Asia we had a mix of B-52s, F-105s, A-1s, OV-10s, AH-1s, F-4s, F-100s, A-4s, A-6s...it was a plethora of air-to-ground aircraft. Look how that turned out. COIN is not determined by air power. Never has, never will be. If anyone tells you differently, they’re an idiot. COIN is a LONG, bloody and EXPENSIVE…

trying so hard to put the old girl out to pasture, rather prematurely I might add

A-29B is better suited for the COIN air support role in a permissive environment than a UCAV. We would have a few squadrons of those by now if certain Congressmen hadn’t put their reelections in front of our security needs.

Air Force has been trying to kill it ever since.

Somewhere after WW2 and the Korean war, the U.S. military became infatuated with high tech, ridiculously expensive platforms

The “Black Widow” name was mentioned over the radio to Rumlow when he was trying to get to Pierce during the big showdown, before Sam Wilson stopped him.

Mandarin was defined by Tony Stark as “advisor to the king” and later on in the “Hail to the King” one-shot, the Mandarin was revealed to be real and holding that…

What's the first thing they'll do with this in the field? Disable the "password" or whatever they use to secure it with because no one wants to deal with that shit when they're taking fire. And what a great time to NOT have security, but when you're most likely to be overrun.

I liked your article and I agree with many of the points you brought up. I always attributed the difference between the first one and the sequels to Spielberg's influence and a lower budget.

What's nice about the first hour or so of Transformers is the way that personal, all-American story is interspersed with scenes of a mysterious, sinister, series of events in the desert, which the movie's military heroes are struggling to come to terms with. Michael Bay, who has often had problems with shifting tone…

data links and computer systems that could be jammed, infiltrated, hijacked or hacked by a capable foe. That is precisely why a low-down and fairly simple form of CAS have to remain in America's quiver.

The blue shadowed area on the right is puzzling although you can see multiple aircraft tracks inside of it. This could denote open ranges for use under visual flight rules, although I am not certain about this.

"We call it Underworld. That's where Bartertown gets its energy."
"What, oil? Natural gas?"
"Pigs."
"You mean pigs like those?"
"That's right."
"Bullshit!"
"No. Pig shit."
"What?"
"The lights, the motors, the vehicles, all run by a high-powered gas called methane. And methane cometh from pig shit."

We had plenty of A-1s, OV-10s and AH-1s in Vietnam. Air power, be it a supersonic bomber or a a twin-engine observation aircraft, does not determine the outcome of a COIN.

The US has historically NEVER been good at COIN. This is not the fault of the Army or the Air Force, this is a due to the civilian leadership and…

Marines were VERY adamant about getting the F-35B. They flat out rejected the Super Hornets on purpose so as to not risk the F-35B procurement. Marine OAS Air is purposefully putting all their eggs in the F-35B basket.

The Air Force is trying to distance itself from anything that can do a job cheaply