Islamic State fight could breathe new life into the A-10

Stars and Stripes ^ | September 26, 2014 | Jennifer H. Svan

[JPG]

The Warthog in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCnjWmtfvFo

[clbiel]

That stuff gives me a Hog-on.

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

Great plane...!

[McGruff]

Designed to shoot Soviet tanks rolling across the open fields of Europe,

Could still happen.

[Darksheare]

Napalm means “marshmallow time”.

[mcshot]

The unverfiable doesn’t want anything killing his bros cuz they have a Country to conquer. The fact that he knows our secrets kind of dooms us. However I’m still for doing to them what the A-10 does best.

[Molon Labbie]

In the armor museum at Fort Irwin California, the National Training Center, are several former Iraqi/Warsaw Pact tanks that had been lit up by the Warthog.

I could almost put my hand through the holes they left in the top of the turret and we are talking about three inches of steel cut through like hot knife through butter.

[yarddog]

The same thing which makes the A-10 so effective, low and slow, also makes it vulnerable.

It has gotten to where it is too vulnerable.

[bobby.223]

LOL!!! I’ll bet the pilots get the same when they roll in on some terrorist trucks and get to do a little muzzy ‘plinkin’ with that gun!! BBBBBZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

[NTHockey]

If not, I’m sure the Marines can find a place for them. They’ll gladly pay $1 per aircraft.

[Hoodat]

No, it is the Air Force that didn't want the planes to begin with because it is not an Air Force plane. It is an Army plane best flown by Army pilots for ground support. The problem lies when you give the Air Force the authority to purchase all aircraft (just as it is when you let the Navy purchase all Marine Corps equipment).

Budget cuts for the A-10 did not occur until four years AFTER Dick Cheney left office. So to blame Dick Cheney for ordering them destroyed is simply not valid.

[Hoodat]

That would be $1 the Navy would not be willing to spend.

[2001convSVT]

D@mn right, one of the most awesome weapons of War ever created! enemies cringe in FEAR, just with the chance that an A-10 will be on the battlefield.

[PGR88]

Exactly - fighting Mid-East dictators and terrorists with a super-expensive F-35 is like chopping fire-wood with a samurai sword.

[SunkenCiv]

The Air Force wants to retire the A-10, an attack aircraft intended for close air support, to pay for its new — and costly — multipurpose F-35 stealth fighters... Designed to shoot Soviet tanks rolling across the open fields of Europe, the A-10 has been the primary aircraft for close air support of ground forces since the mid-1970s. Experts say that capability is well-suited to taking out ground targets in Iraq and Syria.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"Retiring the decades-old fleet of about 300 A-10s would potentially save about $4.2 billion over five years, Air Force leaders have said". ... “Even if you said you wanted to keep the A-10, where does the Air Force come up with the money to retain the A-10 and all that comes with it … and still get its full complement of F-35s?”

So we need $850 million per year to maintain the existing fleet of ships for five years. Obola has been running annual deficits of $1,000,000 PER YEAR for years and years. And they can't find that small amount of money to fulfill the most basic requirement of government -- national defense?

Obola and his democrat henchmen (and many Republicans in cahoots) make me sick. This is an almost trivial amount of money at the national level to maintain the most effective close support gunship ever built. It is perfectly designed for wiping out our muslim enemies in the ME.

[antidisestablishment]

The AF hates the A10. They have been trying to get rid of it since before Gulf I. They don’t want anything that’s not MACH capable.

[blackdog]

And it doesn't need a 6 mile turn radius at full power. It's more like a gigantic over-thrusted crop duster with a Gatling gun and missiles.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks. Another excellent vid: The A-10 Thunderbolt II & GAU-8 Avenger - A Deadly Duo. All about the 127th Wing, Michigan Air National Guard.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Whoops, left out a critical "Million"...

Obola has been running annual deficits of $1,000,000 MILLION PER YEAR for years and years.