Air Force Fails To Kill Off The A-10 Warthog But Boy Did They Try

[T.Lex]

haha

While I truly love the old aircraft, and the genealogy of their influences, the story I heard was that the Spad was the template for the Warthog. (Did anyone ever really call it the Thunderbolt II?)

And that was from a USAF pilot who flew low over the canopy of Vietnam.

 

[Alpo]

OOOOH! Skyraiders ARE THE BOMB! Fly slow, carry lots of ordnance and LOTS of fuel. Now yer talkin'. If only the Skyraider was as heavily armored as an A 10. I have seen A 10s RTB with damage so severe you could not believe they kept it in the air. Talk about bulletproof.

Great plane. The only problem was navigation....they seem to unload a lot of ordnance over Cambodia and Laos. ooops!

 

[thej27]

[video=youtube;zzGJR6sB_Po]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzGJR6sB_Po[/video]

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I think this is the key - both of those groups should be in the same branch. Give the A-10s to the USMC and/or Army Aviation.

The Army almost GOT the A-10 the first time the Air Force wanted to get rid of it (after the failure of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Empire retrenchment). The Army _almost_ talked Congress into authorizing it to be turned over to them, but the Air Force dragged its feet because it has never wanted the Army to have any fixed wing aircraft of ANY sort. Then came the dramatic success of The Highway of Death in GW-I and the Air Force had its rock-star (albeit an unwanted "rock-star") to crow over (and fund-raise with). If it weren't for that itsy-bitsy "Army Fixed Wing Phobia" that afflicts almost all Air Force generals when they pin on their stars, the A-10 would have been "relegated" to the ground-pounders, where it belongs, a long time ago. I am terribly uneasy about arming drones and using them in combat. We've already had at least one high-tech drone spoofed and captured by the Iranians; imagine a flight of armed drones being hacked and turning on their putative controllers. Or imagine an enemy with a way to spoof IFF to consider friendly air and ground forces as targets. I'm not particularly happy with the armed drones we have now; I'd just as soon see a living, breathing pilot with a finger on the trigger of any weapon aimed at anyone.

 

[JollyMon]

[video=youtube;ySuixFGIfbE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySuixFGIfbE[/video]

 

[T.Lex]

Here's another reason drones flown from CONUS, or even beyond Line Of Sight, are probably a REALLY bad idea:
Pentagon: China Developing New Anti-Satellite Weapons, Jammers - USNI News

“PLA writings emphasize the necessity of ‘destroying, damaging, and interfering with the enemy’s reconnaissance … and communications satellites,’ suggesting that such systems, as well as navigation and early warning satellites, could be among the targets of attacks designed to ‘blind and deafen the enemy’,” read the report.
“PLA analysis of U.S. and coalition military operations also states that ‘destroying or capturing satellites and other sensors … will deprive an opponent of initiative on the battlefield and [make it difficult] for them to bring their precision guided weapons into full play’.”

Also, it implicates a weak link in the GPS chain - the satellites.

 

[Alpo]

Fewer Generals, More Warthogs!

 

[Thor]

GPS jamming is a reality. This would be a part of the contested environment I was talking about. Anything you have to control by a link probably won't go there.

 

[Thor]

Fewer Generals, More Warthogs!

If there are any actual Generals left they are hiding really well. Generals are leaders and they've pretty much been purged from the military. The current 'leadership' are managers with spiffy business plans.

Patton, Mitchell, and Pershing wouldn't have been welcomed in todays military. It started to turn somewhere between the two WW's.

 

[indykid]

Here's another reason drones flown from CONUS, or even beyond Line Of Sight, are probably a REALLY bad idea:
Pentagon: China Developing New Anti-Satellite Weapons, Jammers - USNI News


Also, it implicates a weak link in the GPS chain - the satellites.

A certain democrat president grounded the fleet of SR-71s using the idea that satellites were all that is needed. With the ability for ground based units taking out sat defense it sure would be nice to have that old SR-71 back doing the job it did so well during the cold war.

Part of the Air Force dilemma with the A-10 is troop reports during the first war, when the surrendering Iraqis told our troops that they knew A-10s were in the area when their tanks suddenly started blowing up around them, long before hearing or seeing the bird.

High and fast, along with low and slow will keep us free for a long time.

 

[Thor]

That's sort of like decommissioning the EF-111 and saying the Navy can do the job with their EA-6B. Never mind the supersonic strike force with sub-sonic EW protection thing.

The AF is STILL looking for that EW capability. They keep trying to kill the U-2 also yet those pesky Combatant Commanders keep asking for the capability (and without the SR-71 there's really no other option because Global Hawk isn't there yet)...apparently at the five sided puzzle palace reality bites.

 

[actaeon277]

?I?ve never seen planes flying like that? - Heroes 2015 - Stripes

 

[Thor]

Just another day in the life of a Hog pilot.

"there were no deaths or serious injuries." on our side...

 

[Thor]

The Hog proving its worth again.

A-10s in Poland prove they can land anywhere=

What other airframe do we have that can land at unimproved strips without fear of FOD'ing out the engine/s? Other than rotary wing...nothing.

 

[seedubs1]

Love seeing the Warthogs flying around down by Atterbury.

 

[actaeon277]

 

[BugI02]

180 25mm rounds !!!!!! WTF ! Its hard to go to guns WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE ANY GUNS!

 

[KokomoDave]

Go guns? You mean when all the birds leave the nest we don't go home?? Oops!

 

[actaeon277]

tank could not be reached for comment.

 

[KellyinAvon]

A bunch of illiterate goat herders with bent sights on their AKs will stand a shoot it out with an Infantry Platoon. 2 Hawgs show up and the illiterate goat herders crap themselves and run and hide in a cave.