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The V-22 says hi. So does the V-280.And the A-10 was technically designed as a CSAR escort to replace the old Skyraiders (among other jobs).I mentioned this on the NGAD thread, how I see there being 4 basic types of CCA/Loyal Wingman drones:Flying AAM weapons bay. I don't have a good mental image for what this might look like. Needs to be big enough to carry about 2000lbs of AAMs, roughly 6x AMRAAMs and 2x Sidewinders. The Sidewinders are there to have an IR seeker in addition to the ARH missiles, not because we expect this thing to dogfight. If we get dual-seeker BVRAAMs, we can drop the 2x sidewinder requirement.Recon. Probably going to look like TACIT BLUE, even if it's not that big. Same job, flying into A2AD space and providing radar and EO data to the rest of the horde, ideally without the bad guys finding the drone. May end up as two separate airframes, depending on how much space and power the radar and EO eyeball need. Could be as small as a JASSM, if we're okay with near-disposable levels of drone, and that would absolutely have separate radar and EO CCAs. Might use the stretched JASSM-ER airframe and recover via parachute.EW. Replaces the EA-18G Growler, so it's going to have similar payload. ~7000lbs of jammers, a couple of AARGMs and a couple of JSOWs for time-critical SEAD/DEAD. Could use the same airframe as the Ground Attack CCA, but doesn't have to.Ground Attack. I'm picturing something akin to the Northrop A-12 proposal here. 2x AMRAAM (optional), 2x AARGM, and 4x 2000lb bombs. I want a bomb rack that will let me stick 8x SDBs into the volume that a 2000lb bomb takes up for capacity reasons.The manned A-10 replacement is mostly going to quarterback the drones for this work. Two seats, so the pilot can concentrate on flying the plane and the backseater can quarterback the drones (and play flying FAC if necessary). I'm going to give the manned plane a 25mm gun with a big ammo drum (enough for 10x 1sec bursts). It probably won't be used but one time in a hundred flights.
The V-22 says hi. So does the V-280.
And the A-10 was technically designed as a CSAR escort to replace the old Skyraiders (among other jobs).
I mentioned this on the NGAD thread, how I see there being 4 basic types of CCA/Loyal Wingman drones:
The manned A-10 replacement is mostly going to quarterback the drones for this work. Two seats, so the pilot can concentrate on flying the plane and the backseater can quarterback the drones (and play flying FAC if necessary). I'm going to give the manned plane a 25mm gun with a big ammo drum (enough for 10x 1sec bursts). It probably won't be used but one time in a hundred flights.
