Laser painting is still THE way to target in a contested (No GPS environment). The SU-25 basically has no TV/IR targeting capability in practice (though it's been developed) ALA the A-10, Javelin, etc.
I don't fully understand why - whether it's a technical, expense, or reliability hurdle.
So can the SU-25, it has a laser pointer in the nose (ignore if you mean former Soviet bloc by "our"). My point is that a lot of US aircraft use TV/IR targeting frequently, whereas Russian ones don't have that capability except on the higher-end bombers/fighter-bombers (e.g. SU-34, and it's still rarely used with TV/IR guidance). I don't understand if this is a cost, tech, or reliability issue.
Furthermore, self-designation is useless when an aircraft is doing close air-support and can't tell apart friendlies from enemies, which is an extremely common scenario.
I meant US, I'm far less familiar with soviet bloc aircraft.
Dropping LGBs in close air support isn't a thing. There are other tools for that. Target designation with a laser designator isn't something that anyone is going to do in a danger close CAS situation.
I don't fully understand why - whether it's a technical, expense, or reliability hurdle.