Also, limping home sure as shit isn’t useless to the guys on the ground that you didn’t drop a bomb on

And not being able to perform the job from 30k feet at 600 knots is worse.

Sure, not getting shot is better than getting shot and surviving, but how certain are we that it is any less likely to get shot?

Pave Penny IS a legacy pod. It has no ability to designate a target; it requires a separate designator from another aircraft or ground operator.

LANTRIN’s a legacy pod too. And they’ve been retired for some time now. LITENING is good, but that pod takes up a weapons station on the A-10.

The structural obsolescence…

do-it-all-well-but-do-nothing-amazing

Survivability:

The USAF officer corps has proven, time and again, that their culture is categorically incapable of wasting money on EVERYTHING.

Predators and Reapers will, and so will Apaches and Cobras.

That still doesn’t make him an expert on air power in the 21st century. His last tactical sortie was 49 years ago. It was closer to WW2 than the here and now. Tactics, threats and sensor technology has changed since he was in the cockpit.

I think we can all agree that statement applies to McCain far more than it applies to Welsh. Remember the time that the McCain posed for a picture with those “Syrian Rebels” who turned out to be known kidnappers?