Home› Main Category› Clubhouse
The A-10 ain't dead yet!
http://www.examiner.com/article/indiana-blacksnakes-and-their-a-10s-taking-the-fight-to-middle-east
Indiana Air Guard is sending a dozen Warthogs and 300 men to middle east. If this is the swan song for this warbird, I hope they make a lasting impression....
Indiana Air Guard is sending a dozen Warthogs and 300 men to middle east. If this is the swan song for this warbird, I hope they make a lasting impression....
Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
Replies
I think the A-10 is the B-52 of close air support. It is so good at what it does that it's exceeding hard to come up with a convincing argument to ground it.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
If we picked our scrapes a little more judiciously, we could ground the 'hog. That's save about a millionth of a percent of our defense budget. Better planning....yep.....that's what we need.
Mike
N454casull
Jerry
That's why it's official name is the Thunderbolt II!! Great plane to work on, too. It sits high enough so you don't have to worry about hitting your nugget on a panel or pylon!!
And yet...:bang: There hasn't been a good idea yet that some idiot somewhere won't try to cancel or 'fix'.
George Carlin
Here is what George Standridge said.
George Standridge of Lockheed Martin predicted in 2006 that the F-35 will be four times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-air combat, eight times more effective in air-to-ground combat, and three times more effective in reconnaissance and suppression of air defenses – while having better range and requiring less logistics support and having around the same procurement costs (if development costs are ignored) as legacy fighters
I mean....................its not as though he has a vested interest in saying that..............:roll:
The same as you cannot compare an A-6 to a F-4.
But, I agree that we need the A-10 and probably should build more of them.
The A10 is the finest marriage between air craft and mission ever designed. It's a product of minimal political intrusion into its design. It was designed from the ground up around its GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Cannon, not some senator's midnight deals with Lockheed Martin.
A10's get on station quicker than Apaches and lay absolute WASTE to enemy troops and vehicles. It is the single most effective airborne force multiplier in the arsenal.
The F35 is a sick, sad joke. The A10 will always be king.
They run about $16 million each... An F35...is what...8 or 9 times more? And sucks.
Wow - that's a SERIOUS overisght if he wants us to ignore devlopment costs to make a financial statement of "value" when it comes to the F-35!
Well those tiny wings on the F35 make low speed passes a thing of the past. It has to fly about 80kts faster than the A10 so it won't stall. AND it can only loiter on station for about 30 minutes. Hope dude's quick on the trigger..
ETA: Oh and if that wasn't stupid enough...
A10 - 30mm Cannon with 1200 rounds...
F35 - 25mm Cannon with 180 rounds!
The F35 would have to rely on dropped ordnance to support troops and that payload is lightweight at best.
The F35 makes me so angry.
:vomit:
Jerry
20 years after its inception and 70 billion dollars in overrun later, the F22 finally flew it's first mission last week.*
*numbers pulled out of my rear because I can't remember the exact figures but the point is made
Other than the sham that is stealth, the F22 makes. More sense because it is not advertised as a "do all" aircraft. It's mission statement is far more defined and realistic. It stays above 15,000 and blows crap up. Not too hard.
The F35 is just garbage.
There exists a lot of irony here. Back in the 1990's and early 2000's the Comanche helicopter project was conceived, fed money and eventually scrubbed, why? Cost was prohibitive to the expected results and stealth is a scam. Apache is still a viable and effective platform and the USMC is operating with aged, but updated and effective AH-1 Cobras. Why pull those birds?
The A10 is an older design, but it's damn effective. F35 is designed plain and simple to funnel money into Lockheed Martin for some damn reason. No other reason. It could have easily been scrubbed like Comanche, but no.
Every so often a plane comes along that can do several things well. The P-47 is one of those as was the F4U Corsair.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
My parents were Army officers, and somewhere, my dad picked up a futuristic poster of a Comanche. I hung it on the wall in my bedroom when I was in elementary school. That was 15-20 years ago.
NRA Life Member
Jerry
Just guessing here. But if a F22 is flying low 'n' slow enough for proper ground support, then any stealth capability it has is pretty much going to be useless. If the enemy can visually see it, then they can attempt to hose it down with .50 cal. and up. The A10 can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'; I don't think the F22 can absorb the punishment the A10 does. And the A10 carries more 30mm, and has all those wing hardpoints to hang ordnance to make their target explode like confetti.
If the F22 is flying high, like at 10,000 feet or above, the pilot is going to have a hard time seeing what he's shooting at; the A10 low 'n' slow in the grass can see what is going on, and obliterate it with authority.
― Douglas Adams
Having grown up with a man that piloted one, all this was common knowledge in our home. I grew up reading several books about the Mustang. My dad and his cousin used to "Discuss" the attributes of the P-51 vs the P-38 at length over adult beverages. My dad flew mainly the D model Mustang and his cousin flew the P-38, not sure which model of it. It was very boring to a 5 -15 year old kid, but I wish I could roll the clock back and listen now.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
The problem with the Mustang at low altitude such as in combat support and strafing missions was that liquid cooled engine. A Thunderbolt or Corsair had a more reliable air cooled radial and could absorb nicks and scrapes from flack and small arms fire usually, where one relatively minor hit on a Mustang in its engine, radiator, or coolant lines could spell disaster. Sometimes it was a long way back to the Channel and friendly territory.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
But with the Allison it was a rather lackluster performer at altitude above about 15,000 feet. The two stage supercharged Merlin allowed it to perform very well up to at least 25,000 feet or more.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.