Originally Posted by
a1bill
I'm not saying it can't, but why would you bother? Initially the 3I F-35 will be in very limited numbers. I really can't see it being sent off to Iraq, bombing goat farmers.
LGB's are actually pretty good for that. I think there is video of a GBU-12 somewhere on the net taking out a nice sized herd of goats ...
for airsound:
To answer the question on
why deploy F-35 with limited CAS capability? Because it's what is there, and the same reason we had B-1's flying CAS over Afghanistan. The troops on the ground would have preferred A-10's in most cases, but they got what was available.
CAS that isn't "perfect" is better than NO CAS. Ask any of the infantrymen you know.
To amplify the other point, for the next few years there will be a hell of a lot more Vipers and Mudhens available to fly CAS than F-35's, thanks to what's in the inventory, and what squadrons are deployable.