Close Air Support for Counterinsurgency

This research paper will explore the best aircraft design features for close air support (CAS) for counterinsurgencies (COIN), particularly with respect to the current COIN efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is nostalgia for simple, small, low, slow aircraft for COIN operations. Books and movies such as "Flight of the Intruder"1 and "Saving Private Ryan"2 have popularized the notion of A-1 Skyraiders or P-51 Mustangs swooping in at the last moment, guns blazing and dropping bombs or nap...