Posted on 05/07/2010 5:34:07 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
And F-15Cs and -Es, Mr. Trimble.
With it's Electro Optical Targeting System (EOTS,) derrived from the Sniper pod, it can plink tanks or jihadis with Small Diameter Bombs more effectively from a safer altitude than the A-10 can with its 30mm of goodness.
How much testing have they done with that on the F-35? One of the best things about the A-10 was it could fly low and slow.
Do you know is this was ever proposed? If so, I suspect the "multi-role" proponents have much more influence.
Obviously, since the F-35 is still in early stages of testing, the answer is 'no.' But the sensors are basically the same ones that have successfully been tested on F-15Es and F-16s using LANTIRN and Sniper pods to find and laser designate ground targets.
The A-10 was originally designed for close air support, and to wipe out waves of Soviet Tanks rolling through the Rhine with it's 30mm GAU-8 cannon. It was a day only aircraft in that role.
By Desert Storm, tanks were 'plinked' by F-111Fs using their Pave Tack FLIR/Laser Designator pod and 500 lb laser guided bombs. At night, the hot tanks stood out against the cool sand.
For low and slow, we have the AH-64 Apache. The A-10 is currently in the process of an avionics modernization and wing skin replacement program, so it will be around for several decades to come. But it's role can be performed by the F-35.
How true. We’re just to the point where any size bomb can be a smart bomb. Used to be the various bomb guidance packages were so expensive that putting one on a bomb weighing below 750 lbs was out of the question. Now they’re common and more accurate.
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