Posted on 12/12/2013 3:48:56 PM PST by DemforBush
Washington (AFP) - Long disliked by the US Air Force, the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jet may finally be heading for the chopping block due to budget constraints...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“No plane built today is as tough and can fly low and slow like the A-10, while still returning from a mission.”
Pretty well sums up the Air Force “jet jocks” adversity to it ... can fly low and slow!
The warthog was all shot up and she came back fine if memory serves. :)
Sorry, I knew what ya meant, sometimes I just get bored and my primal _hole just comes out. ;)
The A-10 was a great plane for ground attack but it is now very vulnerable to being shot down. I know it has a titanium tub surrounding the pilot and also protecting the engines but that is not enough to do much good any more.
For the newer surface to air missiles it is a sitting duck.
I have never read it...I will check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!
No, just a Marine with buddies that were at Nasiryiah.
Oh yeah, and I successfully passed the armor recognition tests - the same ones provided to pilots, which after the fact it was discovered percentage wise seemed to be an issue for a lot of the pilots.
I'd say it's low class that you don't have the pride in your trade to learn how to identify friend from foe, before I ever called someone low class for pointing out piss poor performance and making a "mistake" that kills over a dozen Marines.
Really piss poor when you consider the Warthog was designed specifically for CAS.
So, I'd rather the USAF pilots worry about the basics - like what friendlies look like before worrying about the latest whizz-bang neato gadgetry they can get.
What is worse, in my opinion, is the spiritual, moral and tradition gutting that is taking place.
We can always replace equipment (as Reagan showed us) but once they have installed non-meritocracy based “leaders” homosexuals, affirmative action appointees and pliable liberals in the military, and purged it of all institutional memory of excellence and purpose, it will be finished, and so will we.
“Darn good plane. And I don’t care what anyone else says, I think it’s a beautiful design.”
The people who came back in one with bullet holes and pieces of wings missing from it think that it’s fantastically gorgeous.
It’s also extremely popular as a model or remote-control plane, especially in large scale.
Still, it’s getting increasingly vulnerable to more and more accessible MANPADs...but I spoke to a few pilots at an air show, and they told me that you do NOT want to stand above ground (much less holding and aiming a weapon) when they are in the air above...and under battle conditions, they work in (at least) pairs...
That was in all probability a weapons failure; not the jet or the pilot. The reason it was never investigated was the government made a “state secrets declaration.”
Like I said low class
Air force leaders don’t see it as a fighter.
Being involved with the A-10 doesn’t result in lucrative post-military employment. It will be killed in favor of programs that do offer post-military employment.
Damned shame. They ought to give it to the Army.
ummm, no.
Too slow, and not glamorous enough.
Plus, it doesn’t cost enpugh so there is little room fo payoffs and kickbacks.
Bingo! It’s too simple and functional. The military industrial complex prefers money pits like the Osprey.
In Pairs Eh...?
A tactic developed by the Luftwaffe in WWII ....enables quick cross over turns.....
Plus, it doesn’t cost enpugh so there is little room fo payoffs and kickbacks.
***Good enough place to bump this thread.
I had learned a year or so earlier at the O Club at Howard AFB, Panama, that it is not a wise idea to try to match Warthog pilots drink for drink.
Sound of grey_whiskers in mourning...
(whimper)
NO cheers, unfortunately.
No prob, it made me laugh when I retread my original post.
I bet the Israeli Airforce would love to buy a few of these.
Would even the odds. And Knowing the Israelis, they would improve the hell out of it.
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