Just a quick comeback, and thanks again for the response.
Depending on what you percieve the ROC and POE to be, AC-130 is a great choice until everybody and his cousin has IR and night vision equipment. Not sure how soon that will be ... and AC-130 tends to be a night operator only for air to ground missions. On the other hand it is brilliant in that role.
However, for
much cheaper local Close Air Support (albeit with virtually NO Air to Air capability) I suspect Predator would be a better choice, or Reaper, than either F-18 or JSF. The trick is to get them and the local control suites at a decent price from Uncle Sam ... and to find a runway long enough to handle that particular aircraft. I won't ask if you all have considered that, as we are on a public forum.
As to JSF, even we in the fat and rich land of DoD appropriations in Yank Land find its fly away cost to border on extortionary (to say nothing of F-22). Since you already have the Hornet, (and Super Hornet?) and you have posited to us a local fight as the requirements driver (not WW III with the Chinese, who will tend to use economics to fight their larger war, I agree) then you need not go with Bleeding Edge Tech for strike. The Viper/F-16 is still with us, and it's over thirty years old. It's doing a great job in the CAS role, and has done for two wars now. I see the Super Hornet doing as well as the Phantom did, in terms of longevity.
I now understand the tanker versus fighter issue better in re F-111, but cannot any of your C-130 be put up with tanking kits?
Yes, that hits the tactical lift yet again, and possibly restores your entering argument that more Hercs is the better idea.
Cheers.
