The first line jet fighters (F22 and F35) cost $50-80 million a piece, and cost $35000 per flying hour. They are fast, loaded with fancy avionics and expensive missiles, and need long paved runways.
For ground attack missions, something simpler and cheaper with modest performance can do the job. Some recon, some close air support bombing, some strafing, and some training. Modest performance might be 500 knots top speed, 100 knots landing speed, propeller driven, 700-800 horsepower turbine engine. With some really sharp bargaining, you might be able to buy such a plane for $1 million apiece. If the enemy doesn't have an air force, or a squadron or two of our high performance fighters takes care of enemy fighter opposition, such a modest performance (approximately the performance of a good WWII fighter) aircraft could be very effective.
There are a number of American allied countries that have security problems, that a little air power might solve, who could afford some $1 million warplanes, but could never afford high performance high cost jet fighters. If USAF were to demonstrate the effectiveness of light weight fighters, they would be encouraged to try some. "If the Americans are flying them, they must be OK."
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