Philip the Arab
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In a Indo Pak war nothing like this will happen I assume. Insurgents would have a hard time shooting down any aircraft without MANPADS. In Afghanistan they had F-18s strafing Taliban positions even if they are unarmored.Sometimes a good Gun run, or a strafing run with rockets can flush out an enemy force. Sometimes enemy are well dug in on a mountain ridge, and while a PGM may destroy that position, there are friendlies nearby.
I give the scenario of 24 Spec. Ops troops assaulting a position, then finding out instead of 12 enemy forces in a mountain town, there are 120. the enemy is all around and you have to provide air support quick (hence the need for a jet) and close, so a CAS plane that can get in close. You maybe able to land bombs near enemy positions, but getting in close allow more effective fire, when you have to positively identify enemy positions.
CAS Planes can also loiter longer and cover an Landing zone with suppressing fire, using unguided rockets but using their ability to get close to hold back the enemy, while reinforcements either evaluate the 24 Spec. Ops troops or reinforce their position and finish off the enemy.
Helicopters can do all of this, but they cost cost several times as much as a simple well built CAS plane.
Imagine a battle like Wanat in Kunar province, Or the Pakistan Army operations in Swat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wanat
I heard a story in Afghanistan were two A-10s fired everything they had at a cave base and nothing happened. A few seconds later they heard a boom and found out it was a B-1B.
If troops have a clear target, and a laser designator many missions can be done from high altitudes by launching Mavericks, other lighter class PGMs to avoid friendly casualties.
In the battle numerous platforms were used that performed high altitude bombing.
AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and a Predatorunmanned aircraft drone armed with Hellfire missiles arrived over the base about 30 minutes after the battle began. During the battle, U.S. soldiers were resupplied by UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter with fire support from the AH-64 Apaches. Wounded troops were evacuated to nearby Camp Wright, where members of E Troop, 2/17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division would wait to rearm and refuel the UH-60s and AH-64s.[16] Later, a B-1B Lancer bomber, A-10, and F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft were called in. The militants withdrew about four hours later.[3] After the militants retreated, mop up operations followed, and the Taliban withdrew from the town.[8][28]