Not All Planes Are F-35s: Meet America's Counterinsurgency Fighter
Counterinsurgency aircraft was a concept that the United States began to employ during the conflict in Vietnam. As the U.S. military became more deeply involved in Vietnam in the early 1960s, there arose a need for a counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft —something that could fly low to the ground and provide armed reconnaissance and even air escort for ground forces. It was a concept that had been pioneered during the colonial wars in Ethiopia and Iraq, but it was during the conflict in Vietnam that the United States began to employ a variety of small aircraft in similar roles. One of those p...
Source: nationalinterest.org