Posted on 04/28/2015 8:24:45 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
The best way to describe the Warthog is a big cannon with an aircraft connected to it. It has 2 engines in case one is shot up.
Thank him for me. My father was USMC air wing ground crew on the Sandy.
Thank you.
If the A-10 was going deep, absent SEAD and absent strikes to take out the IADS.
“The F-35 is hugely unproven,”
Indeed. Even the Test & Eval platform is under-performing, and once you hang enough ordnance on the jet to be CAS or deep-strike effective, you lost L/O capability.
“. . .but the loyalty the A-10 has engendered with its excellent performance in Iraq and Afghanistan and its high-visibility to the troops on the ground has become an obstacle to a modern air-power military.”
Stand-off SEAD weapons, cruise missiles, F-22 to pull the plug and poke their eyes out (’knock down the door,” and F-15E’s with strike loads (and self-protection weapons for A/A), those are the ones that engage in strategic attacks. The A-10 is a CAS platform, tactical in nature. Neither the F-22, F-16s or the F-35 are CAS platforms that can stay in the target area for multiple passes and affect the battle-space.
So, modern airpower is effective when using the proper platform for the mission (strategic or tactical). The problem comes when trying to make a jet that can do all and be all, fly all missions with equal effectiveness. Can't do that, especially if you are trying to affect the near-battle, as that takes specialized weapons, platforms and intensive CAS training for the pilots.
Of course, others may disagree.
Of course, we all know the Marines are flush with cash and can build an entirely new infrastructure to support a new jet, set-up logistics and support necessary to service, maintain, upgrade, repair, arm and re-arm, and train many more pilots. And we can't forget the Marines will need to build runways (A-10s can operate from "austere" places but not dirt).
Nice to fantasize about but realistically, not feasible.
“The Marine Corps is THE expert service on the CAS mission”
How so?
Amen to that. Some never seem to grasp that concept.
The strength of the A-10 is it ability to stick around to perform many attacks, employing PGMs, and the GUN. A-10's can attack and attack and attack. . .not just ‘one pass haul a$$”
Uh, you do realize that the Marine Corps already has an air wing? As a matter of fact we have FOUR different Wings: three active duty and one reserve.
And surprising enough, those wings have the ability to repair and arm and re-arm them aero-plane, fly-ee thingy ma-gigs. Heck, we even got us some cement runways.
That the A-10 cannot do.
Oh, and you know the Marines would have to acquire new weapons, weapons they don’t have, and spare parts and bigger ramp space, new avionics to maintain, tires, tools, all sorts of stuff that would hit the Marines HARD in the wallet.
So, “those wings have the ability to repair and arm and re-arm them aero-plane, fly-ee thingy ma-gigs” for the existing airframes, but not for a new airframe like the A-10.
That makes good sense, thanks :-)
You left out the "and grunts & LNs will die as a result" part.
Perhaps OV-10s? A whole 'nother animal.
How about clearing out some dead weight, desk jockeys at the Pentagon and investing the savings in trained personnel who actually do something productive?
It was the Aviation Section of the Army Signal Corps that did the flying in WWI also.
What was made once, can be made again. A print, a sample part....no problem. I see it all the time for planes that are no longer in production.
China probably already has an assembly line running, after making a contribution to the Clinton Family Foundation.
Our Air Force leadership, both civilian and military, are for crap. Scrap them and keep both the A-10 and F15/16/18’s.
Damned fools and cowards, like those who pooh-poohed Billy Mitchell’s demonstration that a bomber could sink a major class warship.
I say, raise the Air Force Academy to the ground, dig up Gen. Hap Arnold and Col. Doolitle, put them in chairs in a gym, and start all over again.
To No. 6. If we send Warthogs to Israel, we will have to cut a few inches of their tailpipes in order to make them kosher. (Inside joke. If you don’t get it, let me know and I’ll explain).
“F-35 Thunderbirds? No. Just No. “
I think it’s a wonderful idea! Just think... the F-35 can’t fight, it can’t shoot and flies like a pregnant turkey. But it sure looks purdy!
So yeah, they would be great for air shows! They only cost a bazillion bucks each.
Good post.
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