A competition to determine which of two aircraft is better at close-air support may begin as early as next year. The reigning champion, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, will be pitted against its presumed replacement, the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.

DoD Buzz reports that the competition, which was stipulated as part of a past National Defense Authorization Act (otherwise known as the national defense budget) will take place in 2018, and that the Department of Defense's Operational Test and Evaluation Office will "structure and certify" the fly-off.

The duel was mandated by Congress, which is skeptical that the brand-new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can take on the job of providing air support to troops on the ground. This usually consists of flying close to the battlefield and unleashing rockets, guns, bombs and missiles on targets chosen by a forward air controller operating with ground troops.

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Air Force F-35 drops an inert GBU-12 500 pound laser guided bomb, April 2016. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Ridge Shan.

Critics charge that the F-35 flies too fast to loiter over the battlefield, and has an insufficient payload to service large numbers of targets. The F-35's four-barreled, 25-millimeter gun carries just 182 rounds of ammunition, a number its detractors say is much too small to fire repeatedly at ground targets. At just under $100 million a copy and an operating cost of $40,000 an hour, detractors also charge the aircraft is overkill for the mission.

Instead, critics would like to see the 1980s-era A-10 Thunderbolt II upgraded to serve into the forseable future. The A-10's large weapons payload, armor protection, ability to fly low and slow with longer loiter time, and the GAU-8/A Avenger 30-millimeter gun are considered by its supporters ideal traits for a close air support aircraft.

F-35 supporters note that the modern battlefield has grown considerably more dangerous since the A-10 was designed, and that its success in Iraq and Afghanistan—where modern air defenses are non-existent—do not translate into success against modern armies prepared to deal with aerial threats. Under those circumstances, supporters believe, the stealth and sensors of the F-35 would give it a better chance of surviving a mission.

According to DoD Buzz, the brigadier general overseeing the F-35 Integration Office, a former F-16 pilot, believes that in a high threat environment A-10s "won't even enter the airspace before they get shot down — not even within 20 miles within the target."

Source: DoD Buzz

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Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. He lives in San Francisco.