Posted on 03/20/2015 7:12:27 AM PDT by C19fan
Eventually, the U.S. Air Force wants to replace the low and slow-flying A-10 Warthog with the fast-moving F-35 stealth fighter. But it’ll take years before the troubled jet fighters are ready for duty.
In the meantime, the Air Force still needs a plane for dedicated close air support missions — something the A-10 excels at. So what does the flying branch propose? Not keeping the Warthog.
Instead, the Air Force wants to replace the Warthog with a modified F-16 fighter jet — an old concept that failed to live up to expectations decades ago. The F-16s would fill in temporarily until the F-35s can take over.
(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...
I'm not certain they have anything like the AC-130.
Please do not get the Frogfoot pilots mad at us. They might decide they have something to prove, and start showing off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Those are all bad choices. Thanks Congress!
Frogfoot = Sidewinder Bait
It’s not just the Air Force which is being very seriously hamstrung. It’s also the Army and the Navy. The Navy has now been downsized to the point where it is effectively a One Ocean Navy or less with fewer combatant warships than it had before the First World War! The Army has its own problems with being downsized as well.
supposedly they were offered to them and they declined the offer.
Both branches are populated by idiots at the top and they are now busy filling the bottom ranks as well as fast as they can.
“You can’t fix STUPID.”
Maybe you can. The USAF ran an exercise, locally, involving A10s and fast moving small boats. Seems the muzzies have been using small boats to harass the Navy.
In 1989, I was working for Hughes Aircraft Company and was invited to watch part of a demonstration of what they called, “The A-16 Close Air Support Demonstration.” They painted six F-16’s O.D. color to match what A-10’s looked like then. They added Pave Penny pods and a 30mm gun pod. This started at Nellis AFB in the summer and the desert was so hot, they couldn’t get a D Maverick off. They went to Fort Hood TX and the 30 mm gun pod didn’t work well either. At Nellis, I got to be out on the range with two General Dynamics cameramen. Their cameras had lens about a foot and a half long. They would radio, “bring up the helicopters” and from behind this mountain a whole bunch of helicopters rose. Then they would say, “bring up the jets” and the F-16s would come flying around this other mountain dropping flares. The end result was that the F-16 would not replace the A-10. I attended the final briefing at Langley AFB. I think I still have a video tape of the event that ends with the words, “Think A-16.”
To avoid the retirement of the A-10 aircraft, which of the following available alternative options are you going to select?
1. further deferments of the F-35 procurement contracts
2. retirement of one-third or 350 of the F-16 air superiority fighter aircraft which represent the largest number of our fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft
3. retirement of the entire force of long-range B-1 Lancer strategic bombers
4. retirement of a substantial fraction of the remaining F-15 air superiority fighter force
5. retirement of a substantial fraction of the ISR and air mobility aircraft needed to transport and supply the armed forces
6. retirement of a large fraction of the force of air refueling tanker aircraft which are already long past their service lives and inadequate in their current numbers
7. retirement of significant numbers of the command and control aircraft
And they can replace the pilots with a set of remote controls, and save a LOT of money by shutting down the USAF Academy.
There are a lot of folks who would say that title went to the A1 Skyraider, both as a US Navy and USAF CAS bird.
My personal vote might or might not live there. I have a real soft spot for the old Martin B57 Cranberry, which had a CAS loiter time measured in hours, and a follow-on payload to match.
They had a couple of those, as well as some HIPs, out at Nellis last time I was out that way. A Gorbach even showed up there at the October 2002 airshow, and the crew arrived looking like they hadn't been flying for more than 5 or 10 minutes....
This one is the one from the Nellis Secure Threat Training compound....
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