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If the plane will have to operate under the weather and/or at low altitudes, LO doesn't make any sense. CAS doctrinally only occurs after local SEAD, so the radar threats should be reduced.

DIRCM will be a must for any ground attack aircraft.

KaiserD - the problem with AWPKS is there is no reason to suspect it's danger close radius to be substantially smaller than any other precision weapon. The GAU-8 has a Danger Close of ~40m, until a precision missile gets that range, it won't be useful for CAS for firefights.

Abraham - turreted weapons don't make sense for an A-X. One mission of the A-X will be to conduct CAS below the weather. In those situations, a turreted gun adds nothing of value to the A-X, as the A-X won't spend it's time orbiting and waiting for targets.

In a contested environment with MANPADs, A-X can use terrain masking to reduce exposure window. A plane cruising at 10k ft will be exposed to everybody on the ground.

<blockquote data-quote="DrRansom" data-source="post: 278639" data-attributes="member: 9609">If the plane will have to operate under the weather and/or at low altitudes, LO doesn't make any sense. CAS doctrinally only occurs after local SEAD, so the radar threats should be reduced. DIRCM will be a must for any ground attack aircraft. KaiserD - the problem with AWPKS is there is no reason to suspect it's danger close radius to be substantially smaller than any other precision weapon. The GAU-8 has a Danger Close of ~40m, until a precision missile gets that range, it won't be useful for CAS for firefights.Abraham - turreted weapons don't make sense for an A-X. One mission of the A-X will be to conduct CAS below the weather. In those situations, a turreted gun adds nothing of value to the A-X, as the A-X won't spend it's time orbiting and waiting for targets. In a contested environment with MANPADs, A-X can use terrain masking to reduce exposure window. A plane cruising at 10k ft will be exposed to everybody on the ground.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DrRansom, post: 278639, member: 9609"] If the plane will have to operate under the weather and/or at low altitudes, LO doesn't make any sense. CAS doctrinally only occurs after local SEAD, so the radar threats should be reduced. DIRCM will be a must for any ground attack aircraft. KaiserD - the problem with AWPKS is there is no reason to suspect it's danger close radius to be substantially smaller than any other precision weapon. The GAU-8 has a Danger Close of ~40m, until a precision missile gets that range, it won't be useful for CAS for firefights. Abraham - turreted weapons don't make sense for an A-X. One mission of the A-X will be to conduct CAS below the weather. In those situations, a turreted gun adds nothing of value to the A-X, as the A-X won't spend it's time orbiting and waiting for targets. In a contested environment with MANPADs, A-X can use terrain masking to reduce exposure window. A plane cruising at 10k ft will be exposed to everybody on the ground. [/QUOTE]

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