airframe which is obsolete but which is so darn good at it's job that you just can't afford to get rid of it.
and Thank You, For your service to the country.
Posted on 01/28/2015 2:18:11 PM PST by Gamecock
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on Wednesday pressed a top Air Force official about comments a major general reportedly made that airmen who have spoken to Congress about the retirement of the A-10 committed “treason.”
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Ayotte pressed Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh if he found comments attributed to Maj. Gen James Post “acceptable.” "I support any airman's right to discuss anything you'd like to discuss with them,” Welsh replied.
Welsh also said that there is an ongoing investigation, overseen by the Defense Department’s inspector general, into the matter.
“My job is to wait until the facts are known,” he added.
Except it will be the Air Force that bitches the loudest. They won't support the Army getting fixed wing aircraft.
Illegal aliens cost America $113 billion PER YEAR. Funny how there is not ONE hearing on that.
What is wrong with the USAF? The A-10 and AC-130 are the airborne artillery — close air support — for the warriors on the ground. Strip away even part of these assets and you're responsible for killing American warriors. USAF needs to take the money for one F-35 JSF and it alone could fund both the A-10 and AC-130 fleets.
Another radical idea: kill the B-3 manned bomber and retire the Minuteman III force. Transfer all the money saved to the Navy for Ohio-class SSBN replacement boomers. In a nuclear exchange, bombers and land based missiles are too slow or vulnerable. Boomers hiding in the oceans of the world give potential enemies nightmares because their movements are almost impossible to track.
why the line was shut down is for you all to take up with your congresscritter....they killed it 15 years ago..
bottom line, the aircraft is no longer safe to fly, through no fault of the air farce, and needs to be retired..
Actually we have just spent about 300 million bucks on a major upgrade to much of the A-10 fleet which included a complete set of new production, zero time wings and a total airframe overhaul to keep the plane flying for another 25 years and about half the fleet has already been upgraded.
The sad fact of life is that the Hog is the modern day equivalent to the Douglas A-1 Skyraider - an airframe which is obsolete but which is so darn good at it's job that you just can't afford to get rid of it. Truth be known, we could really make some good use of the old A-1 in Iraq and Afghanistan even now. In fact, the old A-1 sitting on station above our troops for hours on end would be perfect for Afghanistan. The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.
Heck, P-47s or IL-2s would be better CAS aircraft in Afghanistan than an F-22 or F-35.
“the A-10 aircraft is no longer safe to fly”
Respectfully disagree, it is still flying. And it can continue to fly if the Air Force can redirect about 700 million to make that happen. There are many ways the AF could do this however it does appear they are trying to put all their eggs in one bag, the extremely expensive F-35. And the F-35 has no gun capability or very little at this time.
The f-35 would be like using the p-51 in ground attack.It was stupid then and still is. Nothin beats a hog,nothin.
Follow the money trail. Besides, they want to give the A-10s to 3rd world dictators who can lose them to islamic radicals.
The A-10 is my favorite plane, but I too think 30mm depleted uranium shells are overkill for fighting ISIS. If only Apaches flew as fast.
I need to start crowdsourcing funds to start up an A-10 "museum" here in NY PA... I would say 10 fully preserved aircraft (including the 30mm cannon) would be a good start.
Good names, as was "Puff" (as in Magic Dragon). However, I prefer the name the Marines use for the AC-130 gunship. If you have ever seen that red-orange stream of tracers at night, looking like a firehose spraying glowing water then you'll understand the name.
"Spooky!"
I’ll go ahead and put it out there. I worked at Wright Patterson for over 18 years. Nearly every general that took command of the base were all hatchet men. I watched all the paint booths disappear, including one with a ten foot tall and nearly forty foot long waterfall. Then they started on the satellite machine shops, then the main base machining center, a massive building in itself. When Ted Kennedy came to the base, I wondered what are you doing here in Ohio you POS. Another KC-135 flying test bed (satellite communications) sent to the bone yard just after a glass cockpit upgrade (digital), so he could get a new plane in his state. All the rino’s in my state played dead while this was happening. So much for waste, fraud, and abuse. One sellout Air Force General after another, and one of them wants to cry treason now for some one speaking out. We need some major purging of Air Force Generals.
There are B52s flying that are a half-century old. There is no such thing as the airframe exceeding its life expectancy if it is maintained.
Active Duty ping.
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