Possible A-10 Replacement

The A-10 is a ground soldiers best friend. It shows up with lots of Weapons and ammo and will stick around for as long as needed. However it is an expensive aircraft to fly and frankly its old.

The Army has been looking at possible replacements for the aging air frame and has come upon a Trainer of all things. The A-29 is a turboprop trainer operating mostly in south america but many European countries also operate them. A propeller aircraft may seem obsolete but here are a few reasons why it is perfect.
1) Cost: A propeller aircraft costs substantially less to fly than any jet. Jets Burn through fuel like there is no tomorrow. With the reduction in cost the Tucano will be able to fly more often to fly provide more support to ground troops.
2) Speed:  It would seem counter intuitive that you would want to go slow but that is perfect for ground attack. When moving slow a plane has more time to aim and attack and as mentioned previously, it lowers the cost. The slower the plane the more efficient.
3) Ease of maintenance: Propeller aircraft are much simpler to operate and maintain than jets. They don't need as long of runways so they can operate from a decent sized field if need be.
The A-29 is not a superior aircraft in terms of fire power but it puts a lot less strain on the supply of bases and in monetary terms it cost 34x less to operate. All together this makes the Tucano the perfect plane to play Wack A Mole with terrorist. Just bear in mind that if a tank comes out, The A-10 will be the one to handle it.

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