A good CAS platform for the ADF would be one with long loiter time, presicion guided weapons and real-time datalink capability. An aircraft that can remain clear of most gound fire and also provide battlefield surveillance and comms relay, in addition to targeting
Trojan, you're falling neatly into the hole Bushranger 71 and the rest of us have been saying for ages now that the ADF should be avoiding - dreaming of a '(seriously expensive
and unproven) built-for-task-Rolls-Royce-or-Ferrari-with-all-possible-bells-and-whistles' that has two serious shortcomings (the very same shortcomings that have put the ADF's rotary wing close air support/troop lift force into its present state of not being able to provide that support to our troops) -
(1) lead time. We simply can't afford the lead time. The ADF needs something that can be fielded -
and that will work - in absolute minimum time, and
(2) cost. Australia simply can't afford yet another hugely expensive super high tech military buy that might not deliver everything it promises. All too many of the recent very expensive buys have two things in common - (a) they are one off systems, unlike anything operated by any other military force in the world, and (b) have not resulted in the ADF gaining a platform or a system that has delivered anywhere near the promised results, if they have delivered anything at all.
Look how successful - and cost-effective - the one exception has been, where we bought off the shelf - the C17.
Besides, as Bushranger 71 says, the ADF already operates the perfect airframe for the job you dream of, and have been since 1957 or so - the Hercules. Three or four of our H models just need to be fitted with the
standard (note that incredibly important word) US kit to turn them into AC130s.
If our political and military leadership in Canberra had the will, I daresay we could have them in the field
and operational in Afghanistan, crewed by our own people, within six months of the decision being made.