A-29 Super Tucano Wins Air Force Bid for Light Air Support Mission

Sierra Nevada Corporation ^ | Dec 30, 2011

[sukhoi-30mki]

Or may be it could be part of a bargain whereby Brazil decides to buy Super Hornets from Boeing for more than 6 billion USD.

[onehipdad]

Embraer is a Brazilian company. SNC is based in Sparks, NV with around 30 locations throughout the US.

[sukhoi-30mki]

And what would be a more modern replacement which would also be lower in cost.

[redlegplanner]

and, like when Orville was alive, we are fighting savages with no air force.

history may not repeat, but it does rhyme.

[ClearCase_guy]

All I'm saying is that our military acquisition process seems quite troubled.

The A-29 is roughly equivalent to the Spitfire (a damn fine plane). Now, the Spitfire was a peach of a plane -- over 70 years ago.
By comparison, how would you like to hit the beaches at Normany in 1944 using a rifle that was 70 years old -- perhaps a Civil War-era single shot musket? The Waffen SS would have loved to see you coming.

We like to think we are still cutting edge, but our military has been hollowed out, and we are now purchasing planes that are equivalent to stuff designed during the Great Depression.

Houston, we have a problem.

[SeaHawkFan]

The P-47 Thunderbolt served this role in WW II.

[Leto]

The canopy and structure behind it is reminiscent of the p39.

http://www.aviation-history.com/bell/p39-13a.jpg

[Leto]

Maybe we should license the IL2 Sturmovik from the Russians.. :)

[shanover]

Hope it fits a need and not a waste of money.Reminds me of the A-1 Skyraiders.Hell of a venerable plane.

[sukhoi-30mki]

I think you need to look at the requirement first before deciding the solution.

The Super Tucano is not meant for high-end operations but for patrol and light strike missions against insurgents, smugglers etc. It has advanced sensors and loiter capability for that role-it doesn’t need a modern radar, cruise missiles or what not for such a profile.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Not exactly-the Thunderbolt was a fighter bomber meant for the battlefield. The Super Tucano is meant for lower threat environments; I think a more suitable comparison would be the OV-10

[raygun]

Yep.

Would’ve been cool to have an AK-47 back during the fall of the Roman Empire too, eh?

[raygun]

Aviation ping-list

Let me know if you want off/on, or what your druthers are, e.g. military, general, civil, et ali (let me know).

[decimon]

They must have run out of Portuguese/Brazilian names. ;-)

[raygun]

Aviation ping-list

Let me know if you want off/on, or what your druthers are, e.g. military, general, civil, et ali (let me know).

[matthew fuller]

"Also, since when have our military planes received spanish/brazilian names?

Since they starting being built by a Brazilian company I am guessing. "

Maybe because they cost a brazillion dollars each.

[Errant]

[Errant]

PHOTO: Boeing pitches OV-10X Bronco for USAF light attack

[Nowhere Man]

Pity the poor bastards assigned to FLY those things when they encounter a real adversary in a JET FIGHTER!

Actually, we had a similar plane like that, the A-1 Skyraider that did shoot down jets in Vietnam, usually MiG-17's and maybe a couple of MiG-21's. Even the old Mustangs and P-47's took care of the Me-262's the Germans had very well. It depends on the pilot really, if you use the right tactics, you can defend yourself or at least scoot and live to see another day.

[af_vet_rr]

We like to think we are still cutting edge, but our military has been hollowed out, and we are now purchasing planes that are equivalent to stuff designed during the Great Depression.

I suppose you think that we should all be driving electric cars since internal combustion engines in cars are soooo 1908.

I suppose you also think we shouldn't have used Skyraiders in Vietnam or A-10s in the first Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan, because they weren't flying Mach 2.

And you probably think that Predator UAvs are useless because they are prop-driven.

Take 5 minutes and go read about the mission that these are being bought for.