Would the US ever bring back prop planes for ground attack or

That's already happening.

>>31999136
>more rugged
Maybe against .30 cal MGs.

The maintenance time on piston engines and prop aircraft is UNGODLY. I can't remember the exact numbers but it's something like 80 man hours of work on the plane to every hour in the air. Basically every time they fly a sortie you have to tear the thing down, clean it, replace parts, and rebuild it.

>>31999167
Source?

>>31999186
And to be clear, I'm not talking about your uncles Cessna. I'm talking about supercharged military aircraft that pull high G maneuvers, change altitude and temperatures rapidly, and are often damaged without even taking enemy fire.

>>31999208
Google OV-10 middle east.

>>31999213
Compared to an A-10?

No. Prop based combat aircraft are for military forces that can't afford jet aircraft. You just lose too much capability.

>>31999245
I was thinking more secondary roles.

>>31999186
>>31999213
Except any modern prop plane would be a turboprop, which have the same maintenance requirements as any turbine engine.

>>31999186
Not. Piston engines won't come back, unless it's a diesel. Rebuilds depend on hours and abuse. Modern diesel aircraft engines are doing about 1000 hours. Props are generally good for 2000 hrs. OV-10 Broncos that just recently deployed had a 98% sortie completion. I'm on my phone so I will let you google those articles.

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this is what you want

>>31999265
Ground attack and CAS are in no way secondary roles.

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>Hey guys whats going on in here?

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>>31999136

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next you'll make the case that when the warthog is retired we should replace it with skyraiders

and i would support that endeavor

the US military bought a lot of Embraer Super Tucanos (A-29s) for Afghanistan's new air force as a COIN/CAS aircraft, and before that handover SOCOM/AFSOC played with a bunch as testing aircraft. SOCOM/AFSOC also got to refit NASA's OV-10 Bronco airframes as combat aircraft and has been using them in Iraq and Syria in cooperation with American SOF on the ground. The results were positive in both cases but the USAF is jet obsessed and can barely afford their existing stock of planes, let alone their immensely expensive programs, modernization efforts, and future earmarked acquisitions (theyre on-course to be out of money by 2021) so this plus the increased chance of shootdowns reduces the odds of any such program becoming larger in scope. It just isn't likely or feasible, especially in an age of exceptionally effective AC-130s, AH-64s, AH-1Zs, etc plus drones and fastmovers carrying PGMs of every make under the sun.

>>31999136
They tested the OV 10 in Iraq

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/ov-10-broncos-were-sent-to-fight-isis-and-they-kicked-a-1764407068

TLDR: They're GOAT for COIN/low intensity conflicts

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the perfect COIN platform