Is a drone with Hellfires considered adequate CAS these days?

[Todd.K]

Dedicated CAS is a luxury, not the norm. Unless it's a large, planned op going into an area of expected heavy resistance, CAS on station comes to you (and sometimes doesn't) when you need it.

[ABNAK]

Dedicated CAS is a luxury, not the norm. Unless it's a large, planned op going into an area of expected heavy resistance, CAS on station comes to you (and sometimes doesn't) when you need it.

I kind of figured that to be the case. Having said that, it would be nice to massively expand the armed drone fleet, because the loiter capability would contribute significantly to that "dedicated" aspect you mention. Of course the USAF holds the Key West Agreement close to heart so the Army picking up armed fixed-wing CAS like Reapers is going to take some override from national command authority.

[Slater]

Are the AC-130's more tailored toward SOF support?

[BWT]

Are the AC-130's more tailored toward SOF support?

No experience with this, but I think they’re much more overhead than an A-10.

God Bless,

Brandon

[chuckman]

Are the AC-130's more tailored toward SOF support?

They belong to AFSOF, but accessible to anyone who needs them. 99% of their missions are at night, which correlates to SOF missions (99% of which are at night).

[Diamondback]

I did some reading on this last night and it's now called the Reaper and can carry four Hellfires instead of the Predator's two. But yeah, still only four shots. Like Sinister said, better than nothing.

Knew they had trialled it, couldn't remember if they'd gone forward or just stuck with duals. Thanks for the backstop.

Also forgot that Hydra-based PGM's were so far limited to the seven-pack launchers... on a Reaper that's still 28 chances to Reach Out and Bitchslap Someone. If they could get the 19's upgraded... two of those plus two Hellfires would make a nice balanced "Something For Everyone" payload mix.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanc..._Weapon_System

[ABNAK]

Knew they had trialled it, couldn't remember if they'd gone forward or just stuck with duals. Thanks for the backstop.

Also forgot that Hydra-based PGM's were so far limited to the seven-pack launchers... on a Reaper that's still 28 chances to Reach Out and Bitchslap Someone. If they could get the 19's upgraded... two of those plus two Hellfires would make a nice balanced "Something For Everyone" payload mix.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanc..._Weapon_System

Cool link, thanks! I did notice, however, that the Reaper was not among the fixed-wing aircraft is was being planned for. Too bad 'cause like you said it'd allow for many more targets to be hit.

A Hellfire (IIRC) has a 50lb warhead. Wonder how big the BOOM is from one of those 2.75" rockets? Surely enough to take out an enemy MG position or such.

[Diamondback]

Cool link, thanks! I did notice, however, that the Reaper was not among the fixed-wing aircraft is was being planned for. Too bad 'cause like you said it'd allow for many more targets to be hit.

A Hellfire (IIRC) has a 50lb warhead. Wonder how big the BOOM is from one of those 2.75" rockets? Surely enough to take out an enemy MG position or such.

Pretty small, but with a CEP of a foot or less--put the laser on a BG's center-mass and he's almost certainly getting a gut-full of boom. Definitely enough to do an MG position or a Technical.

Then again, I'm one of those oddballs who as a kid read the Aviation Week annual sourcebook (a directory of every major aircraft, weapon and component system in the world) like the Sears Wish Book, asking "I wonder what happens if we combine all these pieces together?" and cranked out white-papers advocating things like the aforementioned B-52-stuffed-full-of-SDB's. (I *still* wanna take a Silent Eagle, slap the front half of the NF-15B ACTIVE onto it, then shove the engines of an F-22 up its backside... mocked it up in a sim once and almost put the plane into orbit. LOL)

Here's some more Death-From-Above porn for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-39..._Diameter_Bomb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-53/B

[Slater]

For a somewhat bigger bang, Reaper can carry a pair of GBU-12's.

[Diamondback]

For a somewhat bigger bang, Reaper can carry a pair of GBU-12's.

I'm surprised they haven't cooked up a reduced two-up strongback for SDB's on Reapers to allow a "continuum of force" all the way from 70mm PGM up to 500-pounder.