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An Air Force Plane Slated For The Scrap Heap Is Now On The Front Lines Against ISIS (A-10, Warthog)
BI - International Business Times ^ | 9-23-2014 | Christopher Harress

Posted on 09/23/2014 1:00:09 PM PDT by blam

Christopher Harress, International Business Times
September 23, 2014

A-10 Warthog in Afghanistan upload.wikimedia.org

As the U.S. begins bombing ISIS targets in Syria with a campaign of airstrikes that started Monday, a venerable airplane that was almost sent to the scrapyard joins the fight. The Pentagon will send a dozen A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft and up to 300 airmen to the Middle East in early October, to help in the conflict against the Islamic State group, the Indiana National Guard said.

The deployment of the 40-year-old aircraft comes just four months after it was controversially saved from defense cuts by Congress, whose rationale for saving it was simple: Cutting it would lead to the deaths of U.S. servicemen on the ground.

Built originally by now-defunct Fairchild to destroy Soviet tanks in Europe, the A-10 survived the end of the Cold War thanks to its ability to fly low, carry lots of bombs and a large cannon, and help troops with close air support, which made it often invaluable in Afghanistan. But with defense cuts looming and the Afghan war winding down, the Thunderbolt seemed on the way out.

The aircraft, while favored by some Air Force top brass, was slated to be cut from the defense budget in early May, with potential savings of about $4 billion over a five-year period. The more than 300 A-10s in service would have been grounded.

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: a10; airforce; airplanes; warthog
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To: blam

Isis is in a world of hurt!


121 posted on 09/23/2014 3:08:35 PM PDT by DungeonMaster (No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.)
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To: laplata

Yes. . .thankfuly not all. . .yet.


122 posted on 09/23/2014 3:09:54 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: DocJhn
Yep ive seen in simulated attack runs at air shows .. its surprising how super quiet it is.. even that gun sound odd when its fired.. sound more like an electronic hum then a gun.. really think just the thought of this aircraft just messes with an enemy mind once them been attacked by it a few times.. that it has got psychological power to destroy morale of an enemy on top of everything else
123 posted on 09/23/2014 3:10:06 PM PDT by tophat9000 (An Eye for an Eye, a Word for a Word...nothing more)
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To: Hulka

I don’t know why but just knowing how safe they are made this Marine moms monitor blurry. Getting old, I guess. I was bummed when I asked my son if he saw any A-10s in Afghanistan and he told me the Marines don’t use them.


124 posted on 09/23/2014 3:10:21 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: tacticalogic

That’s all we need when fighting a JV enemy. . .right?


125 posted on 09/23/2014 3:10:24 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: blam

Anyone wanting to scrap A-10s should be placed in a fully armed combat tank and told to try to stop the plane that is shooting 30mm rounds at him before the tank explodes.


126 posted on 09/23/2014 3:10:28 PM PDT by DungeonMaster (No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.)
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To: blam

The USAF has outlived its usefulness, and then some.


127 posted on 09/23/2014 3:11:55 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: tophat9000

If you see it in the sky after a run your still alive!


128 posted on 09/23/2014 3:12:13 PM PDT by DocJhn
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To: Yo-Yo

Well, at least the F-22 got to join in last night for the first time in battle.


129 posted on 09/23/2014 3:15:00 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: Hulka

Liked that first story, #4 could have been pulling a “Patton”, leaving the rest of the group to back him up as he took out a couple of tank parks in the GDR.


130 posted on 09/23/2014 3:15:01 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: Hulka
That’s all we need when fighting a JV enemy. . .right?

It is if all you're doing is blowing up empty buildings and abandoned vehicles. Obama has to sign off on all the airstrikes.

131 posted on 09/23/2014 3:15:47 PM PDT by tacticalogic
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To: tophat9000

In reply (already answered, different thread):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3202567/posts?page=74#74

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3202567/posts?page=70#70


132 posted on 09/23/2014 3:16:22 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: blam

The way the headline reads I thought they pulled a Warthog off the scrap heap queue and sent it into combat!


133 posted on 09/23/2014 3:16:45 PM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: huldah1776

Be assured, Mom, that the Marines do use them. . .they just don’t fly them.

Prayer for your son’s safety.


134 posted on 09/23/2014 3:18:08 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: DocJhn

Yes the A-10s are most certainly a deadly weapon but they are also only just part of a complex and coordinated system that establishes maintains overwhelming air superiority. That system is being dismantled piece by piece and it is a crying shame.


135 posted on 09/23/2014 3:19:15 PM PDT by infool7 (The ugly truth is just a big lie.)
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To: tophat9000

FYI about the gun sound: Higher pitch ‘zip’ is the sonic boom of the individual bullets and the lower pitch ‘braaaap’ is the sound of the gun firing.


136 posted on 09/23/2014 3:19:33 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: Hulka

I read somewhere that the A-10 is the last military aircraft to be live fire tested.


137 posted on 09/23/2014 3:27:40 PM PDT by infool7 (The ugly truth is just a big lie.)
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To: T-Bird45

Yeah. . .but I tell ‘ya, I was pretty worried I would be in a heap of trouble over that. . .someone HAD to have seen us.

During a NATO Tac-Eval, flying out of Sembach, launched on a mission taking my 2-ship into France to fly against their EW range.

Got close to the border of france and called and called their ATC to receive clearance to cross into france (after all, they were ‘independent’ and we HAD to call to enter france even though we were protecting them). Anyway, mid-day, no answer from the frogs. Climbed to get better radio performance and still no answer. Well, I called the airborne french FAC on the range and he said ‘stand by.’ A few minutes later he called me and gave me clearance to cross into france. So we did.

Low level, warting along, after about 15-mins a Mirage F-1 showed up diving out of the sun onto me. Thinking this was part of the Tac-Eval, I did the Hog thing, defeat with turns and he couldn’t hack the turn to stay at my six. He zoomed, re-positioned and tried a re-attack, I turned again and he zoomed up. . .again. Having enough of this, when he re-positioned and began another attack I pulled up and went nose-on to him. He immediately broke off the attack, climbed and ran away.

We completed our mission and the next day there was the American ATC rep, standing with the German ATC rep, alongside a very pissed off french ATC rep.

I was called aside and told I entered without clearance and the french scrambled a full-up alert Mirage to intercept me and force me to leave. Didn’t work out that way.

Anyway, why did the french ignore my call? It was lunch time and by gawd, even thought the french controller heard me, it was break-time and he wasn’t going do anything. . .except launch a fighter when he saw me enter france.

Piffle. . .darned french weenies.


138 posted on 09/23/2014 3:31:01 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: Hulka

Didn’t take it as piling on, just that you missed a key part of the thread so I wanted to make sure you saw the details. No problems here - check out your PM for a further message as regards this thread.


139 posted on 09/23/2014 3:31:57 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: tacticalogic

How’d that picking targets at the White House work for president Johnson?


140 posted on 09/23/2014 3:32:08 PM PDT by Hulka
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