Posted on 04/28/2023 8:56:48 AM PDT by Red Badger
US Air Force secretary says it’s time to move on from the A-10 Warthog because it ‘doesn’t scare China’ and has only ‘limited usability’
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So Frankie, a valid military criteria for a USAF plane is it has to scare the enemy? That means most of the USAF inventory is not scary and has to go.
Limited usability as opposed to what? A Swiss army knife?
There are several problems with the Warthog. First of all, it doesn’t cost enough. How are Congressmen going to wet their beaks when an A10 is only a piddly $10 million apiece? Second, it works. Air crew feel safe inside the Warthog’s armor, and ground forces feel confident of the Warthog’s ability to come in low and blast opposing tanks and artillery.
The main purpose of military aircraft is to pack into the plane every possible advancement suggested by a manufacturer in a Representative’s district so that a hundred points of technology can be demonstrated in one glittering package, and don’t worry, they’ll all be kludged into co-operability before the next two or three wars end, by which time they’ll be outdated and a new replacement will need to be funded.
“We have something that works. Let’s get rid of it!”
It’s the Democrat way! Gasoline cars? Get rid of them. Natural gas fired furnaces and stoves? Get rid of them
“Aren’t those B-52’s getting a little long in the tooth? Do they scare China?”
But, but, we have the B2, 132 of them!
Oh wait - peace has broken out, cut that 75.
Oh wait - The End of History has arrived, cut that to 21, and destroy the tooling
Oh wait - One crashed, so we have a grand total of 20 B2’s and now we want to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
Maybe they should be electric......................
The A-10 is still the king of CAS. But the USAF HATES the idea of CAS. They see the A-10 as a bag of money they can grab for their pet projects.
The F-35 moonpig is wholly inadequate for that mission.
In the 90s they got rid of the A-6 fleet including brand new ones to make way for Cheney’s magical stealth A-12 bomber. That thing had long range, and carried an incredible load.
The military is driven by new production of gold plated systems, not by care for and use wonderful equipment we have. Another The F-15 is another. Still undefeated worldwide. And the USAF hates it.
The A-10 is my favorite F/A aircraft. I think of it as the
Harley-Davidson of the skies.
Also...does anything we do scare China at this point?
Marko
I want one. Should be included in the 2nd Amendment.
Command has been hating on the A-10 since it was in development. And yet there it is. Still flying. Still winning.
The AF weenies want aircraft whose manufacturers can provide them with perks and favors. Fairchild-Republic is out of business, so nothing is forthcoming.
Full disclosure: I worked at Farmingdale in the ‘70s when these planes were being built. A sad, sorry fact is that that plant was so corrupt that the AF actually curtailed the program. Some of that bad taste may survive in the AF procurement culture.
The surviving A-10s have been updated with new wings by Boeing. Probably new avionics, too.
Have it fly low towards the Three Gorges and see if China fears it
> -have you ever heard that darn cannon squeeze off a few rounds?!
I saw F-18s doing strafing passes with a 20mm at Grafenwöhr back in the 80s. My impression at the time was that it looked quite possible to plug the passing aircraft with a .50 cal M2. While that wouldn’t even bother an A-10, there are lots of better stuff around these days. An A-10 would get one flight and one pass.
I wonder what the drug cartels would think of them?
” Rep. Adam Smith asked Kendall if he could outline some of the programs that the Air Force plans to divest and why it is important that Congress avoids getting in the way. “
Adam Smith, the representative from Boeing.
If that’s the metric, then we should move on from Joe Biden.
They can’t go to the Army. That violates a magic agreement from 60 years ago that the USAF forced through. They have to be in charge of ignoring CAS.
“Saw a P-3 flying with the A-10’s just this week”
A death sentence if there ever was one. LOL!
All kidding aside I’m wondering if what you saw was a NOAA plane......they still use ‘em to track the weather....either that or maybe what we called an “FMS”. Foreign Military Service A/C.
If it was heading east it mighta been coming over here for maintenance.
Best infantry low-level air support that exists in the entire world. That 30mm Gatling is an absolute killing machine. Does this AF secretary even have ANY military experience? And I’m not talking about General Officer administrative REMF crap.
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