Posted on 09/29/2014 6:28:17 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Last week, when I was being shown around Embraer's new U.S.-assembled A-29 Super Tucano with a group of journalists, the first thing that caught my eye was a big covered something sticking out of each wing. In an age of remote control drones and smart bombs, that couldn't possibly be a machine gun, could it? It sure enough was said our Embraer guide. The A29, in a throwback to the days of mano a mano air combat, has a single .50 caliber gun in each wing, although not the same Browning model used in just about every U.S.-made aircraft that carried such weapons, but an FN Herstal.
File that, I guess, under the more things change, the more they stay the same. It got me wondering how far you have to go back to find the last time a single-engine propeller aircraft had wing-mounted guns. I can't think of anything later than say the T-28, which appeared in the 1950s, but actually had guns in pods on hardpoints. Before that, it would have been the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, but it had a pair of 20mm cannons in each wing. It emerged just at the end of World War II and saw duty in Korea and Vietnam. None of those airplanes were intended for air-to-air gunnery, although a pair of Navy AD's claimed one of the first Mig kills during the Vietnam war after a hapless Mig-17 pilot thought a head-on pass against eight 20mm cannons was a good idea. And like the T-28 and A-1, the Tucano's guns are intended for ground support, keeping alive what first appeared 100 years ago: the ground strafing attack.
As we were told at the Embraer unveiling of the A-29 last week, these U.S.-assembled variants, built by Sierra Nevada Corp.
(Excerpt) Read more at avweb.com ...
These arw good light attack and COIN aircraft.
But can they hack it?
Depends on their FAC and who is flying it.
In the hands of the US Military...absolutely.
In the hands of the Afghans...without a good residual force left behind to ensure that their training goes on properly and they develop long lasting traditions...not likely.
It looks like it can certainly hit womp rats in Beggar’s Canyon...
Super Tucano!......
Absolutely and Sierra Nevada knows what they are doing.
My understanding is these planes are already pretty well tested with a few South American governments.
Well proven design.
That beast ran on extremely high octane avgas, and had much shorter maintenance intervals than the Super Tucano. Yes, it carried (past tense) a much heavier payload. It should be compared to the A-10 ... just less capable.
Super Taco?
The problem, as far as foreign military sales goes, neither aircraft will be operated in significant numbers by either the USAF or USN.
The USAF has been pushing an all jet force since the late 1970s - turbo props don’t count.
The USN will not operate them because they don’t have enough range to operate off an attack carrier without some sort of aerial refueling support.
BTW - there were several interesting Counter Insurgency (COIN) developed during the course of Vietnam that went no where because they had no chance of becoming a mainstream USAF platform.
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