they’d be sitting ducks for a jihadi IR missile.
I am not particularly knowledgeable on these things but I think they might actually be vulnerable. I am sure they have some defenses and I know they are built to absorb some damage.
Same thing with the Spectre Gun Ships. They deliver a knockout punch but probably have a glass jaw.
The A-10 is built to take heavy damage.
There’s a ghastly poetry in how as they killed the plane that is extremely useful in deckmating open columns, halfway around the world a convoy of armed militants drove in a column toward conquest.
Not hardly pilgrim.
Since its inception in the early 1970s the A-10 was designed to live, fight, and survive at low level in the MADPAD threats. Of the three, survive, IMHO, is the most important. Photos from DESERT STORM prove this.
But, it was never a “F” platform. Therefore like other “A” platforms it was the poor, red-headed, bas*ard child from the wrong side of the railroad tracks. The only surprising thing is it took the AF 25 years, and multiple attempts (thank you US Army) to kill it.
“they’d be sitting ducks for a jihadi IR missile.”
The A-10 can take massive damage. I wouldn’t want to tick one off.
Have you ever seen one at an airshow?
The high bypass turbofans have a low heat signature. The plane is armored like a tank. It is the most survivable ground attack plane we have.