But there are some of the best(if not the best) mobile land air defense systems around - operating exactly how they shall. This alone must draw attention.
p.s. strictly speaking, best russian planes are okay at targeting. But there are just a few of them.
It's also much easier to be shot down by large systems when your aircraft is exposed against the sky. And be killed, too - large warheads take no prisoners.
Average Buk-m3 battery has just about enough ammo (adjusted for Pk) to wipe out a medium-sized European airforce in one salvo - thus decent targeting systems may not get a chance to be used in precisely the same way they were used against those who can't shoot back.
There is, in the end, a basic reason why everyone preferred to deal with low-altitude threats instead of modern med/hi ones before the war on terror.
A-10 predates F-16, thus comparing its survivability with F-35 is somewhat pointless.
If USAF doesn't want to do this inefficient mission, they may just stop blocking the army from doing it themselves.
Imagining a modern ground attack airplane isn't exactly inconceivable - this role can benefit from all the same advances that informed JSF, FARA, and so on.
