Editing Attack aircraft (section)

=== Post-World War II ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2021}}

In the immediate post war era the [[Piston-Engines|piston-engined]] ground-attack aircraft remained useful since all of the early jets lacked endurance due to the fuel consumption rates of the jet engines. The higher powered piston engine types that had been too late for World War II were still capable of holding their own against the jets as they were able to both out accelerate and out maneuver the jets. The [[Royal Navy]] [[Hawker Sea Fury]] fighters and the U.S. [[Vought F4U Corsair]] and [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider]] were operated during the [[Korean War]] while the latter continued to be used throughout the [[Vietnam War]].

[[File:OA-37B-1 (centered).jpg|thumb|left|[[Cessna A-37 Dragonfly|OA-37B Dragonfly]] of the [[169th Airlift Squadron]]]]

Many post-World War II era air forces have been reluctant to adopt fixed-wing jet aircraft developed specifically for ground attack. Although close air support and interdiction remain crucial to the modern battlefield, attack aircraft are less glamorous than fighters, while [[air force]] pilots and military planners have a certain well-cultivated contempt for "mud-movers". More practically, the cost of operating a specialized ground-attack aircraft is harder to justify when compared with [[multirole combat aircraft]]. [[Jet aircraft|Jet]] attack aircraft were designed and employed during the Cold War era, such as the [[Carrier-based aircraft|carrier-based]] nuclear strike [[Douglas A-3 Skywarrior]] and [[North American A-5 Vigilante]], while the [[Grumman A-6 Intruder]], [[Republic F-105 Thunderchief|F-105 Thunderchief]], [[General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark|F-111]], [[Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk|F-117 Nighthawk]], [[LTV A-7 Corsair II]], [[Sukhoi Su-25]], [[Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II|A-10 Thunderbolt II]], [[Panavia Tornado]], [[AMX International AMX|AMX]], [[Dassault Étendard IV|Dassault Étendard]], [[Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard|Super Étendard]] and others were designed specifically for ground-attack, [[Air interdiction|strike]], [[Close air support|close support]] and [[Anti-tank warfare|anti-armor]] work, with little or no [[Air combat manoeuvring|air-to-air]] capability.

Ground attack has increasingly become a task of converted trainers, like the [[BAE Systems Hawk]] or [[Aero L-39 Albatros]], and many trainers are built with this task in mind, like the [[CASA C-101]] or the [[Aermacchi MB-339]]. Such [[counter-insurgency aircraft]] are popular with air forces which cannot afford to purchase more expensive multirole aircraft, or do not wish to risk the few such aircraft they have on light ground attack missions. A proliferation of [[low intensity conflict]]s in the post-World War II era has also expanded need for these types of aircraft to conduct [[counter-insurgency]] and light ground attack operations.

A primary distinction of post-World War II [[Military aviation|aviation]] between the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] was that latter had generally been allocated all [[fixed-wing aircraft]], while [[helicopter]]s were under control of the former; this was governed by the 1948 [[Key West Agreement]]. The Army, wishing to have its own resources to support its troops in combat and faced with a lack of Air Force enthusiasm for the ground-attack role, developed the dedicated [[attack helicopter]].