To Know Russia's Next Move, You Have To Start Thinking Like Them | Glenn Beck Program ( 2:46 )
Published on Mar 17, 2015
Want to know what Russia will do next?
You have to start thinking like them, says Glenn Beck.
See more: http://TheBlaze.com/TV
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 don’t know how we are ever going to win a war. We spend all our time and effort fighting with each other. The Regular Army and the National Guard fight each other. The Marines fight with the Army. The Air Force fights with the Navy. The Navy fights with the Marines. The civilians in the Department of Defense fight with the uniformed members. The Infantry fights with the Tankers. The helicopter pilots fight with the Infantry. The politicians fight with the entire military. The Warrant Officers fight with the Officers. The Special Forces fight with everyone. The Democrats fight to get the military’s money. The female Soldiers fight with the male Soldiers. The Service Academy Officers fight with the ROTC Officers. The old Sergeants fight with the young Officers. Your peers fight with you to sabotage you so they can get that top block rating.
Clausewitz wrote about reducing “friction” in your Army to win wars. We just keep increasing it and wondering why we have so many problems.
The enemy is over there. Quit trying to shoot the friendlies.
Hell, they should have kept the F-14 Tomcat as well.
Exactly.
The Jordanian pilot should -in a SANE world- be a warning to the Airforce perfumed handkerchief wavers that this is a BAD idea.
But..you and I both know that will never happen.
“I’ve never met [or even heard of] an infantryman who, having called for CAS, was disappointed that it was an A-10. “
What about the AC130’s? I would think they would do a better job than an F16 in CAS.
I'm not certain they have anything like the AC-130.
“How about improving(!) the A-10 instead of scrapping it for a lesser replacement?”
Your Congress has removed that option from the table. The Air Force has been ordered to choose between funding combat air support squadrons to maintain A-10 squadrons or F-16 squadrons, but not both at the same time.
The Air Force has the responsibility for providing air superiority or air supremacy to keep enemy fighters from shooting down A-10 attack bombers. Fewer F-16 air superiority fighters and fighter-bombers means fewer or no air superiority aircraft to defend the A-10 attack bombers form losses of their pilots, aircraft, and missions. Although the F-16 is a less capable attack bomber than the A-10, it can at least perform the CAS mission as an attack bomber and defend itself in addition to performing the air superiority mission necessary to conduct CAS missions at all.
At this point you and the Air Force must choose which compromise to take, or you must help the Air Force by compelling Congress to remove the need to make such a compromise at all.
Exactly. Using the F-16 is like hitting a thumb tack with a hammer. Sometimes a 500lb bomb isn’t appropriate.
“What about the AC130’s? I would think they would do a better job than an F16 in CAS.”
They are an excellent tool in a permissive air defense environment, but they are too vulnerable to ADA, SAM, and enemy air interceptors where such threats pose a substantial risk. The smaller size, higher speeds, and greater maneuverability of the A-10 is substantially more appropriate for dealing with such threats.
“Have every Air Force senior officer’s evaluation be done by the ground commander he’s supposed to support.”
Please keep up to date on the issues.
Air Force Secretary “Debbie” James has determined that all Air Force officers’ evaluations and promotions will be determined on how well they implement diversity.
Please do not muddy the issues with nonsense like warfighting ability.
A truck being replaced by a sports car .....
I think the AC130 has a much slower stall-speed than the F-16. (Can’t find the actual numbers for it.)
So that would be a point in its favor.
The real problem though is that there’s absolutely nothing like the A-10 that’s as good for CAS.
The next best thing would probably be helicopters and they’re quite a bit more “fragile” than the A-10.
(One of the big problems with the higher-ups, IIUC, is that they think that CAS can be done by flying really fast, and really high, and dropping a “sufficiently smart” bomb. What this view utterly neglects is the value of being able to “loiter” in the area and respond dynamically to situations as they change/occur — because the Air Support is already there it can respond nearly instantly instead of having to launch, travel, engage.)
“Sometimes a 500lb bomb isn’t appropriate.”
The F-16 is equipped with a 20mm Gatling cannon for strafing ground targets.
In the late 80s and early 90s a NY ANG unit (”Boys from Syracuse”) was a CAS dedicated F-16 unit.
Their initial performance in the role during Desert Storm was a disaster. They ditched the centerline 30mm gun pod after the first day of operations and flew with Mavericks and dumb bombs.
Sounds like politics over war-fighter needs. Once again.
What do you work for General Dynamics or something.
Give the troops what they want. Not what some politician says they want.
A factor to be considered is our enemies won’t all be like ISIS, the Taliban, etc. We could face China at some point, and the A-10 would not survive very long by itself in a sophisticated, layered AA environment. It’s a tough airframe, but it’s not that tough. Need something stealthy for a sophisticated AA environment. Or a jammer escort. Or a SEAD escort. The stealthy F-35 could get in and get out without the need for a jammer or SEAD escort.
In that type of environment, the A-10 would have to wait for availability of another airframe (jammer or SEAD) to accompany it on every mission until enemy air defenses have been totally degraded. Without that availability, it’s sitting on the ramp. Not so with the F-35.
I like the A-10, and it works great in the skirmishes we’ve had lately with enemies who have no Air Force or air defenses. We have no guarantee our next enemy will be so accommodating.
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