With the kind of tech the military have nowadays. Would something

It would be Afghanistan, but with a more ideologically committed population (as opposed to afghans who dont care about anything) and an insurgent force funded and supplied by two major superpowers (Russia and china, as opposed to random Arab businessmen). So yeah, totally, since the Taliban is still alive and kicking.

>>33071126
But the US military doesn't put nearly as much effort in Afghanistan than it did in Vietnam.

>>33071156
>can't lose a war if you don't fight a war
>can't have your citizens put up the white flag if your citizens don't care

2 Questions. With how cheap predator drones are ($4 mil), and can hover for hours, why isn't the Army fielding more to provide close air support to units? I only hear them on occasion when compared to A10s, and they are probably significantly cheaper to operate and float than to calling in the Brrrrrtt.
2. Is the hell fire is the only munition we can slap on predators? We can't slap cheap smart bombs and guide them in on target? It seems prohibitively expensive to smack a DShk on a mountainside.

>>33071265
I add that while the a10 comes with enough dakka to do multiple runs, having a drone to provide asap fire support and recon while waiting for more fire support.

>>33071265

The Army doesn't fly planes, Predator drones can't carry that many weapons because they're really small, and if the Army really needs to put a hellfire somewhere they will call in an Apache.

There are larger and more capable drones than the Predator (such as the Reaper), but the most capable ones are almost certainly secret.

Drones have been used for CAS a bunch, it's just that manned aircraft are better at it because they can carry more weapons. Once we see drone aircraft the same size (or larger) than current manned aircraft we will see this change.

>>33071095

Not OP, and maybe in for an even more retarded question, but is it far fetched to think that one squad / one drone as overwatch isn't that long down the road?

Of course silly.

Without a good government and a good military in South Vietnam, all the tech in the world wouldn't make much difference.

>>33072592

Yes, but they'll probably be integrated at a level higher than the squad, and one drone can watch a lot more than just one squad at a time...so instead of having, say, 1 drone for 10 dudes, you'd have a couple drones per company (which is like 200 dudes).

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>>33071338
>The Army doesn't fly planes,

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>>33072995

>>33072995
>>33073015
>actually responding with this level of autism

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Why can't they start building these as cas drones?

We don't have to worry about our tech falling in enemy hands cause these have been around since Vietnam.
And they've got to be cheaper than a reaper.

>>33072946
Are they using drones in Afghanistan to coordinate artillery? Something about having a drone with a FOB to buzz around until they find someone setting up to pop a shot off, then smacking em with a howitzer round.

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>>33073200
>cheaper than a reaper

>>33073369

I have no idea if they use drones to coordinate artillery in Afghanistan, but the Russians have been working on this for a while now: https://warisboring.com/to-help-guide-artillery-rounds-russia-deploys-the-drones-d35890f69fb8#.mpae0hquf

It's a logical next step.

>>33073200
Ill take what is loiter time for 500 Alex.

>>33073200

CAS is best done from a high altitude and with a plane that can loiter for a long time.

The idea that CAS is something you do by buzzing the enemy from a few hundred feet up was obsolete decades before you were born.