I was interested to read the article on the AT-6 Wolverine in the March issue. It seems to me that with many air forces constrained by tighter budgets they would be better served to buy a light attack aircraft, such as the AT-6 or Embraer's Super Tucano that are much cheaper to purchase and operate. Take the RAF for example, of the recent campaigns it has been involved with most have not needed high-end fast-jets, such as when it was supporting troops in Afghanistan. Even if it was against a more advanced foe, the normal procedure is for American SEAD aircraft and cruise missiles to knock out air defences before the bombers head in. There is a need to have the most capable fast-jets for a sophisticated adversary, but as most campaigns are not likely to be against such an enemy, is there not an argument for also having a cheaper option for those operations that do not need complex and expensive fast-jets?
展开▼
