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

[actaeon277]

 

[Thor]

Hey, I actually saw that thing! It was a crew vehicle for a bomb competition. I've got a video somewhere...probably on a disc in a drawer here somewhere...they were driving around throwing practice bombs off the roof and splicing in explosions.

 

[actaeon277]

PREORDER Pigs Can Fly Ultra-Thin Vintage T-Shirt

 

[AmmoManAaron]

The Air Force will keep the A-10 ?indefinitely' - Business Insider

 

[warthog]

I bought one of those shirts, after all I am Warthog!

 

[9mmfan]

The bean cutters finally gave up. What a beautiful plane.

 

[Thor]

This makes me as happy as seeing Ghost Rider fly again. Unless they come up with some game changing technology that the planes can't use physics haven't changed. If you want low, slow, armored with a big gun and lots of bombs the A-10 is the way to go, if you want a flying bomb truck and don't much need stealth because that's being handled by other aircraft then it's hard to beat the BUFF.

Beware the old man in a profession where men die young.

 

[T.Lex]

The need to re-license and re-start manufacturing of them. The bean counters didn't give up; they did the math and realized the existing airframes will evaporate by attrition.

It isn't like there were fleets sitting in hangars in Montana.

 

[Thor]

It isn't like there were fleets sitting in hangars in Montana.

That would be AZ not MT and they are just sitting in the desert mothballed and waiting, and like the article stated they can keep them flying for decades. There is nothing in the pipeline that can replace it or the BUFF. They are talking about putting new engines on both airframes. I was at a meeting last week working with the A-10 SPO on fielding improved training caps...

 

[T.Lex]

Yeah, my reference was to the Buffs - thought they'd been in MT back during the Cold War, but you're probably right.

My point, though, is that the airframes themselves have got to be reaching their service life. They were never treated gently like those Buffs were. You would know better than I, but there's gotta be a point where refurbishing them just won't cut it.

Engines, avionics can all be upgraded, too, but it seems to me that they really need the frames.

 

[Woobie]

An airplane so tough, even the Air Force couldn't bring it down.

 

[Thor]

Yeah, my reference was to the Buffs -.

Yeah, it's sad to go out to the bone yard and see all the BUFFs that Clinton 1 had chopped into pieces, sad for America and sad for the taxpayers. I think there are still enough out there to keep us at current levels for a while. Ghost Rider was brought out to replace a crash loss.

As to the airframes, consider the T-38 Talon trainer which entered service in 1961 and the AF is just now considering replacing. An aircraft made to fly super, drop bombs and put up with thousands of student landings and over G situations. They can abide.

 

[actaeon277]

The bean cutters finally gave up. What a beautiful plane.

For now.

 

[Thor]

Almost a necro-post but relevant. Just to update the status of the A-10. The AF has finalized and awarded a contract to re-wing every last A-10 in the inventory, any date for replacement has been moved well into the future. There is no program to create a replacement. The War Hog will be with us for some time to come.

They are still looking at a light attack aircraft to replace it in low intensity conflicts. My guess is, as it has in the past, this will go nowhere or we would be flying Piper Enforcers right now. Probably the best option would be to have Boeing start turning out some OV-10's but I don't see that happening either.

Part of the reasoning of course is that enemy armor on European and Asian battlefields have become a thing again.

Here's to the A-10, may she fly long.

 

[SSGSAD]

Almost a necro-post but relevant. Just to update the status of the A-10. The AF has finalized and awarded a contract to re-wing every last A-10 in the inventory, any date for replacement has been moved well into the future. There is no program to create a replacement. The War Hog will be with us for some time to come.

They are still looking at a light attack aircraft to replace it in low intensity conflicts. My guess is, as it has in the past, this will go nowhere or we would be flying Piper Enforcers right now. Probably the best option would be to have Boeing start turning out some OV-10's but I don't see that happening either.

Part of the reasoning of course is that enemy armor on European and Asian battlefields have become a thing again.

Here's to the A-10, may she fly long.

GOOD !!!!!

 

[OakRiver]

 

[rooster]

Glad to hear that. Maybe it's been covered already but if the problem is the age of the aircraft and not the platform itself then why not just build some new 2018 models?

 

[Thor]

The re-wing takes care of that, good for another 20-30 years. It's cheaper than building new aircraft. While Boeing still has the tooling to build A-10's I understand that the forge used to make that titanium tub no longer exists...I'm sure they could build another one if they run out of tubs in the bone yard.

 

[Alamo]

Glad to hear that. Maybe it's been covered already but if the problem is the age of the aircraft and not the platform itself then why not just build some new 2018 models?

Once an aircraft assembly line closes, it is very expensive and close to impossible to crank it up again after a few years go by. Even if the tooling is still around, the expertise and currency of the workers has dissipated, and the supporting technologies have changed. Many bits and pieces end up having to be reengineered from scratch using current materials and methods. Re-winging the A-10 will not be cheap, this just means in the current DoD budget the admin and congress have been more generous than in years past.

 

[Trigger Time]

This news makes me very happy. Warthogs save lives