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Air Force: Dogfighters out, warthogs in
Las Vegas Sun ^ | 1/29/2009 | Megan McCloskey

Posted on 01/29/2009 4:37:49 AM PST by markomalley

Its nickname is “warthog.”

That’s the first clue that flying an A-10 is not the Air Force’s most glamorous mission.

It’s designed to support ground troops, not to engage in the dogfighting that makes up the pop culture image of air combat.

The wars in the Middle East, though, have made close-air support — bombing targets near troops — one of the Air Force’s top missions.

“The A-10 was not the most sexy, popular weapon system the Air Force had,”said Lt. Col. Paul Johnson, the 414th Combat Training Squadron director of operations at Nellis Air Force Base. “But now since we invaded Afghanistan and we invaded Iraq, that is the mission du jour.”

Training, in turn, is adapting.

As a trial, the Air Force is adding a week of training on close-air support to the upcoming Red Flag, the aerial combat exercise run by Nellis. (This is in addition to Green Flag, an ever-evolving, joint exercise with ground forces that prepares units for deployment and focuses on close-air support.)

“It’s the reality of the time that we’re living in now; the fight that’s happening now,” Johnson said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others perceived a reluctance by the Air Force to shift focus to missions tailored for irregular warfare, such as close-air support, intelligence collection and troop movement.

Many just “didn’t think the Air Force was getting it,” according to Jeffrey White, a former, longtime military-capabilities analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Dominated by fighter pilots, Air Force leadership is sometimes derided by critics as fly boys or the fighter mafia. The service, the criticism goes, is interested only in the glamorous missions. And now that unconventional warfare is the dominant fight, some say the Air Force is only begrudgingly fulfilling its role.

“There are no aces for flying ground support,” White said.

The tension over priorities reflects a decades-long philosophical debate about the role of the Air Force: What mission should be predominant?

Gates, who never undermines the significant contribution the Air Force makes to the wars, has been pushing hard for more emphasis on intelligence collection using unmanned drones (much of which is done out of Creech Air Force Base, north of Las Vegas).

Last spring he vented publicly and forcefully, particularly toward the Air Force, that senior military leaders were “stuck in old ways of doing business.”

Shortly thereafter, and following a report detailing the erosion of the nuclear weapons program, Gates in an unprecedented action fired both the civilian Air Force secretary and the Air Force chief of staff.

Although the nuclear weapons issue is a valid reason alone for the firings, it’s telling that Gates then appointed as chief of staff a general who lacks a call sign, making it the first time the head of the Air Force doesn’t have a fighter or bomber pilot pedigree. Instead, Gen. Norton A. Schwartz has a background in transportation command and is more joint-forces minded.

Still, it would be wrong, White said, to paint the service as a dogmatic bureaucracy that can’t adapt. It can and does.

And, added Michael O’Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution, “the air-air and intense air-ground missions are still there, still driving most force structure, still absorbing most modernization dollars — not for these wars, but for deterrence and possible future wars.”

Success comes down to achieving a balance between the current needs and the ability to handle future threats. The Air Force would be called on to rapidly wage conventional air warfare if, say, things went bad with Iran or North Korea, White said.

Regardless, now A-10 pilots have a little more cachet, or as Johnson put it, “hair on their chest.”


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: a10; aerospace; greenflag; lowandslow; redflag; usaf; warthog
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To: Eye of Unk

One of the things I liked about Rumsfled was that he worked on pushing the military out of its Cold War mind set. As my brother-in-law (Army) put it, the Army was run by a bunch of colonels and generals who were trained to fight Soviet tanks in Germany and not insurgents in Kandahar.


21 posted on 01/29/2009 5:10:00 AM PST by bobjam
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To: fredhead

Without a doubt, the best in close ground support aircraft to ever fly, PERIOD. If politico’s and DOD contractor execs would stop with their greed, such aircraft could easily be improved upon w/ regards to avionics, weapons systems and performance. No need to change the armor on this aircraft unless it is lighter weight and performs like that on the Abrahams.


22 posted on 01/29/2009 5:13:06 AM PST by RSmithOpt (Liberalism: Highway to Hell)
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To: usmcobra

‘There is nothing more sexy to the guys (and girls) on the ground as a hog in the air.’

That’s true! And an AC-130 as well!


23 posted on 01/29/2009 5:15:06 AM PST by kickonly88 (There is nothing more sexy to the guys (and girls) on the ground as a hog in the air)
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To: markomalley
Comparing the A-10 to an air to air fighter is like comparing apples to coconuts. They have vastly different roles. Without the fighters to clear out enemy aircraft, the A-10 and the choppers are slow flying target-practice for enemy fighters. Red Flag makes a lot of sense for Air-to-Air because fighter pilots don't get a lot of opportunities to fly Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics (i.e., against other types of aircraft using enemy tactics). An A-10 needs to work with Army ground units so they can get realistic training at the Army Ranges.

One type of aircraft is useless without the other. The A-10 can't fly in an environment where we don't have air superiority and the air-to-air planes can't take and hold the ground.

24 posted on 01/29/2009 5:17:34 AM PST by mbynack (Retired USAF SMSgt)
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To: HenpeckedCon

We will always disagree on this one.


25 posted on 01/29/2009 5:29:32 AM PST by Badeye (There are no 'great moments' in Moderate Political History. Only losses.)
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To: markomalley

So I’ve been told.


26 posted on 01/29/2009 5:29:51 AM PST by Badeye (There are no 'great moments' in Moderate Political History. Only losses.)
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To: HenpeckedCon
Maybe I'm wrong, but the army used the fixed wing, turboprop OV/1 in Vietnam for close ground support with success. Maneuverability and quiet was its strong point. Maybe the Hawk was the idea behind the Hog. Too bad the air force thought and thinks they have the market on fixed-wing aircraft.
27 posted on 01/29/2009 5:31:58 AM PST by appleseed
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To: Badeye
You're probably right, but the Air Force ain't going away so my suggestion makes the most sense.
28 posted on 01/29/2009 5:33:22 AM PST by HenpeckedCon (1/20/13 - Obama's Last Day!)
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To: HenpeckedCon

Alas, they won’t look to either of us for sound advice.


29 posted on 01/29/2009 5:34:28 AM PST by Badeye (There are no 'great moments' in Moderate Political History. Only losses.)
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To: mbynack

Yepperdoodle, good thing we got them there zoomies to keep the Taliban Air Force off our A-10s.

No wait....


30 posted on 01/29/2009 5:37:07 AM PST by Ronin
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To: markomalley; SAMWolf; alfa6; CholeraJoe; Valin; Samwise

Go Ugly Early bttt


31 posted on 01/29/2009 5:39:56 AM PST by Professional Engineer (You don't know the power of the Dork Side. | Can he lead a normal life? No, he'll be an engineer.)
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To: Professional Engineer
I've worked with them in Search and Rescue. I was glad to have them watching my back.


32 posted on 01/29/2009 5:45:31 AM PST by CholeraJoe (You think I'm crazy? I got your crazy right here!)
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To: Dixie Yooper
The A-10 along with Apache helicopters were responsible for the Highway to Hell victory during the end of Desert Storm.

No need to engage in revisionist history. There were quite a few other platforms involved in that turkey shoot, particularly Marine TACAIR. I suggest you speak with the F/A-18D FastFAC aircrews who were coordinating the strikes for the real gouge.

33 posted on 01/29/2009 5:47:34 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: HenpeckedCon
"...I hate the idea that the Army has to rely on the Air Force for support..."

So does the Army.

34 posted on 01/29/2009 5:50:59 AM PST by skimbell
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To: Eye of Unk
Well so far our real enemies have a distinct lack of hi tech aircraft, they do have lots of SAMs, tanks and other ground based weapons, of which the Warthog is arguably the best fixed wing offensive weapon we have.

Only in a low threat environment, otherwise the A-10 is extremely vulnerable to MANPADS and AAA. Little known fact; during Desert Storm the Air Force lost more A-10s to those threats than the Marine Corps lost AV-8Bs.

35 posted on 01/29/2009 5:53:35 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: markomalley
Problem is, haven't they stopped making A-10's? And there isn't an A-10 replacement in development either. The JSF is billed as taking over the air-to-ground role, but I don't think it would do nearly as good as the A-10.

We also need a UAV with a big Gatling that can act as a "mini-me" A-10.

36 posted on 01/29/2009 5:56:55 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (We used to institutionalize the insane. Now we elect them.)
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To: TADSLOS
I can’t begin to tell you how utterly devastating and pure kick ass this platform is. I’ve called them in from the ground and worked with them in the air on JAAT missions, They are a pure joy to watch and I thank God they’re on our side.

Carefull, or else A.A.Cunningham will start calling you a Zoomie Kool-Aid drinker!

</sarc>

37 posted on 01/29/2009 5:57:12 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: mbynack

You hit it.
Most people think the A-10 is capable of flying in an unattrited atmosphere, and it’s clearly not.

During ODS, the A-10 never intentionally flew in contested airspace or in an ADA environment. Fast movers usually cleared out ADA before the A-10 went to work.

When it was hit, it survived.
But, it was hit by the remaining ADA assets and not by the brunt of what existed before F-16s cleared the kill box.

The A-10 may be doing great in Afghanistan, but too many extrapolate its capabilities to other conflicts, or fail to see what future conflicts may bring.


38 posted on 01/29/2009 5:59:20 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: Professional Engineer
Need more Pics...

This plane needs some more stores on the wings:-)

Back to mines of salt I must go.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

39 posted on 01/29/2009 6:02:02 AM PST by alfa6 (One mans magic is another mans engineering... L.L.)
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To: PapaBear3625

Why a gun at all?
Newer UAV are carrying Hellfires, can carry the SDB, and there’s even a laser-guided 2.75” rocket now available.

Carrying a heavy gun with tons of dumb munitions is counterproductive for that kind of work. Especially when it requires the UAV to orient and close in with the target. Hellfires and rockets don’t.


40 posted on 01/29/2009 6:06:00 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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