The U.S. Air Force’s interest in a possible new close air support (CAS) platform to replace the A-10 Thunderbolt II is about “capacity,” says Air Combat Command chief Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle – a sign that a projected downturn in the number of fighters in the inventory will make it insufficient to meet current missions.

The look at a new CAS platform is only in the study phase, but Carlisle says careful review is needed not for capability as much as potentially fielding extra aircraft to augment a dwindling fleet.
“There is a capability requirement for the future threat. There is also a capacity discussion,” Carlisle tells Aviation Week. “As … you look at the real high-end players and … if they get to the capability that we anticipate that they will get to … we have to keep thinking about how we maintain that capacity … There may be an inflection point in the future that says at this point we need more capacity and to get that we have to do it at lower cost.” However, with the current threat and budget environment “we are not there yet.”