JSTARS would be a valuable addition

[dlder]

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JSTARS, in my mind, was a huge asset. You can't begin to place a value on how much they helped us." - Capt. Jim "Boomer" Henry

We already have attack planes and multi-role jets, but especially with the coming F-15E, this quote from the book "Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War", the "AWACS for the ground" would be immensely valuable!

Especially with datalink and hopefully some more integrated/better communications, because the controller has to "paint a picture" for the pilot to look for the target (like outlined in the book), this would bring so much immersion to the game!

So, the question shouldn't be IF, but WHEN.

Thanks for the consideration,
dlder

[upyr1]

CAS in general needsto be overhauled before we get a dynamic campaign.

First obviously for the modern era we need the J-STARS.

Then for all eras we need a command post or aircraft to direct us to a FAC.

Bellow is the description of the typically CAS set up on the Vietnam war 

https://qr.ae/prB6P1

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Each of the 3 F-100 bases (1970) had at least two, sometimes more, aircraft on 5 minute alert 24/7. We were launched every shift, sometimes more than once. Alert pilots pre-briefed their mission, pre-flighted their aircraft, ran the engine and left the a/c “Hot cocked” or ready to start engine. We stayed at the alert shack maybe 50 meters from our birds which were parked in revetments. We stayed suited up the whole time, except most of us removed our boots when napping. (We had side zippers installed to speed things up. I hoped the zippers would hold up during the parachute landing that never came.

When the alert bell rang we had 5 minutes to get airborne. We sprinted to the birds, ran up the ladder to the cockpit, hit the cartridge starter button and moved the throttle to idle. Our crew chief followed us up the ladder and helped us strap in. By the time we got belted in we could fast taxi to the end of the runway, pause to have the four 20 mm cannons cocked and the bombs, etc. final inspected and the ground safety pins removed. At that time we were cleared for takeoff by the Tower. We ran the engine up to military power (full power without afterburner) and checked gages. Lead visually checked for a thumbs up from his wingman, released brakes and selected afterburner. That stopped the alert clock. Rarely did it exceed five minutes even out of a sound sleep. I can still wake up and function fairly quickly.

We were given a heading to fly (vector) on takeoff. We were then vectored toward our target area which might be more than 100 miles away, or occasionally within sight of our base. On the way we were directed by Hillsboro, the Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center (“AB triple C”), to our Forward Air Controller (FAC). As we contacted the FAC he briefed us on the target location, often a Close Air Support (CAS) situation with friendlies under fire. He explained the ground situation, positions of friendly and enemy troops, the run in headings which kept us from directly overflying the good guys and potentially hitting them if our ordnance went short or long from the target, as well as the “safest” bailout area.

After visually acquiring the FAC, he marked the target area with a white phosphorous rocket (“Willie Pete”), and directed us where to bomb or strafe from the smoke cloud from the WP. He often had the friendlies pop a colored smoke can so we could pinpoint their location. The FAC never mentioned the color of the smoke to us or to the ground because the bad guys had radios and their own smoke. We would call out the color, like Goofy Grape or Mellow Yellow for a positive ID of the friendlies.

We usually were armed with bombs and other munitions which allowed us to get in close to the target for better accuracy without blowing ourselves out of the sky. This meant high-drag bombs (“Snake Eye”), or un-finned napalm, both of which slowed down rapidly when released and exploded behind the aircraft instead of directly under it.

There were minimum safe separation distances (SSD) from the friendlies for each type of ordnance. Occasionally the bad guys were closer to the friendlies than the SSD. In that case the ground commander, often an Army or Marine Lieutenant, would authorize closer delivery. We had to get his initials before we dropped. At times, we blew dirt onto the friendlies who had their heads down as we dropped. 20 mm cannon strafing had the smallest SSD. We had an occasion to put exploding strafe bullets on the concertina wire surrounding a firebase camp, perhaps 10–15 meters from the friendlies who definitely had their heads down.

After dropping/shooting our ordnance, the FAC would give us preliminary Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) over the radio. We later got the word that we had beaten back the assault and helped keep this firebase from being overrun. Occasionally the Grunt whose initials we had would contact our base and tell us about the mission from their end. I was always glad to be on our end of it, not theirs. We had a hard time paying for drinks on those occasions.

This was our most satisfying type of mission because it directly saved the lives of friendly forces, US, Allies and/or South Vietnamese soldiers.