Close Air Support

The US defense establishment is in the midst of repeating itself. During the early 1960s the defense industry had anticipated "three new R and D programs: one for a future Air Force tactical fighter bomber to replace the F-105, one for a Navy fleet interceptor, and one for a close air support (CAS) combat aircraft."1 Despite protests from the Armed Services and the defense industry, President Kennedy's newly appointed Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, seeking to "to achieve added procurement efficiencies," combined these "replacement requirements-minus CAS-into a single aircraft," the TFX, which eventually became the F-111.2 While the F111 was the most sophisticated deep strike platform of its day, its design characteristics proved a poor match against the newest Soviet fighters, generating uproar in both the USAF and USN.