If you're in a shit sandwich, by all means call an aircraft up and ask for support. There's a blurb in the J-Fire about it, and it says something to the effect that aircrew will have to be more proactive about drawing out information, etc... Is it still CAS? Depends. What controls are in place, where are the battlespace boundaries, is coordination being done between other firing agencies? When an attacking aircraft is talking to a FAC/JTAC he knows that all of the above are being taken care of for him/communicated to him. He'll be told his attack heading, other aircraft, threats to the aircraft, any other firing agencies, that the FAC is coordinating with other firing agencies, etc. When he's talking to Joe Schmo, he may not know about those things enough to tell the pilot what he knows and what he doesn't.
"Owning the bomb" is one of my pet peeves. Who gives a shit about the legality. I want to make sure that I've sent a correct 9-Line up to the aircraft. Why? That's my life and the life of my Marines on line. The attacking aircraft wants to make sure they're releasing the ordnance in the right place. Why? Those are his fellow countrymen. If I never hear the term "own the bomb" again, it'll be too soon.
That Rover 5 looks nice, but since it's only been about 3 1/2 years since I left my B-Billet, and I know how cheap the Marine Corps is - I figure they're probably still using the Rover III... After all, I deployed in 2006 with a MULE!