Not a bad idea,

The originally A-5 had alot of constraints.

….

Helos are notoriously maintainence night mare.

may not be a bad idea to rivive a rugged simple fixed wing aircraft which takes over your cas duties.

so, yeah, it is a good idea.

Pakistan has retired A-5s that are no use to the PAF for strike any more and it has an entire maintenance depot that can run these. Even brand new ones are only $5 million and a simpler CAS one may be even cheaper… Compared to an attack helo, and their rough field capabilities, it seems a good alternative, although IF you can afford Su-25s (and have a relationship with Russia) those would be better (similarly, A-10s)

Sorry PLA-MKII, but your proposed CAS variant of the antiquated A-5/Q-5 comes nowhere near the Su-25 Frogfoot in neither staying power (endurance/loitering time), firepower or survivability.
The Su-25, like the Fairchild A-10A was designed specificity for this mission.

At the end of the day, I’m very very surprised that the PLAAF have not already purchased (or copied ) the Su-25!!

Regards
Pioneer

How would you compare it to the capabilities of an attack helo in the same role? China does not have the Su-25 or anything similar, this is all they got (and all for sale, even if we imagine a super secret CAS plane that is even more secret than the J-20)

Below is the picture of a harrier for comparison:

Although two very different aircraft, for a specific view of a CAS role, here is a comparison of performance of the Harrier and th A-5C:

Harrier:

Length: 46 ft 4 in (14.12 m)
Wingspan: 30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)
Height: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Wing area: 343 ft² (22.6 m²)
Empty weight: 12,500 lb (5,700 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,703 lb (7,123 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 18,950 lb VTO, 31,000 lb STO[18] (8,595 kg VTO, 14,061 kg STO)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Pegasus Mk. 105 vectored thrust turbofan, 21,750 lb (96.7 kN)

Performance

Maximum speed: 662 mph (1,065 km/h)
Combat radius: 300 nmi (556 km)
Ferry range: 2,015 mi ()
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
Rate of climb: 14,715 ft/min (74.8 m/s)

A-5 (old, without the mods proposed earlier)

Wingspan: 9.68 m (31 ft 9 in)
Height: 4.33 m (14 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 27.95 m² (300.9 ft²)
Empty weight: 6,375 kg (14,050 lb)
Loaded weight: 9,486 kg (20,910 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 11,830 kg (26,080 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Liming Wopen-6A turbojets
Dry thrust: 29.42 kN (6,614 lbf) each
Thrust with afterburner: 36.78 kN (8,267 lbf) each

Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 1.12 [14][15] (653 knots, 752 mph)
Range: 2,000 km (1,100 NM, 1,200 mi (1,900 km))
Combat radius:
On lo-lo-lo mission: 400 km (220 NM, 250 mi) with maximum payload
On hi-lo-hi mission: 600 km (320 NM, 370 mi (600 km))
Service ceiling: 16,500 m (54,133.9 ft)
Rate of climb: 103 m/s (20,300 ft/min)
Wing loading: 423.3 kg/m² (86.7 lb/ft²)

I just don’t believe in large formations with the lethality of today’s weapons,
thus i see no use of busting said formations.
Hide & seek, Shoot & scoot is the name of the game, imposed by ever more lethal munition

large formations on the ground not in the sky : )