I always said the Corps shoulda got the A10.
I read somewhere they are using them for FAC aircraft now.
Agreed. The A-10 may not be sexy enough for the Airforce image, but it's damn deadly and efficient. Give it to the Army or the Marines, somebody who's familar with down and dirty fighting.
Could help a lot to clean up this liberal neighborhood.
I disagree. I love the A-10's, "don't F with me" looks. Just like the Humvee.
>>The A-10 may not be sexy enough for the Airforce image, but it's damn deadly and efficient. Give it to the Army or the Marines, somebody who's familar with down and dirty fighting.<<
The Air Force is facing budget cuts like every other service, and the Air Force is scrimping for the bucks to buy/fly/maintain the F-22. The A-10 is a single-mission jet. The problem is not that the Air Force doesn’t want the A-10 (it does), it simply can’t convince congress to pony up the bucks to modernize and/or replace.
Transferring the jet to the Army or the Marines is a non-starter.
Both of those services have no intention of operating a jet that is tied to a hard-surface runway. While Harriers and attack helo’s can operate out of a mud puddle if need be, the A-10 can too, but only for a mission or two.
The Army and Marines are not into the flexibility the A-10 gives you with its theater-wide reach.
The Army had air assets, in fact the largest “air force” of all the services, but the Army doesn’t have the command and control ability to effectively range the A-10 to affect battle areas beyond, say Division or Corps boundaries. What Division commander wants to call Corps and the Air operations Center and say; “Hi, got a few A-10’s sitting and ready to go. . .where do you want them.” Ain’t gonna happen. They don’t do that with helos and they certainly won’t with an A-10.
The Marines have their own indigenous air assets and they “own” these assets.
Marine assets are hardly ever chopped to the Joint Forces Air Component Commander. The Marines keep Marine air for Marines, and to release them for the JFACC’s use would violate Marine doctrine. As, in the case of the Army, the Marine commander would be loath to let “his” A-10’s out of his AOR.
The subject is more rooted in how to use the jet to the best advantage, not passing them to “somebody who's familiar with down and dirty fighting.”
Finally, about that attitude (“somebody who's familiar with down and dirty fighting”). That comment is a slap at all Hog Drivers, FAC’s and planners from ALL services that populate the Joint Air Operations Center and put together an air campaign, putting the best aircraft and weapon to the mission. It is also an insult to those that fly the mission, from B-52’s to F-15E’s to the A-10, they all perform Close Air Support. Close Air Support means putting the weapon "close" and more Air Froce aircrew than you realize have been "down and dirty."
Gunrunner
Hog Driver ’85-89
FAC, Gulf War I, 101st
I always said the Corps shoulda got the A10.
I read somewhere they are using them for FAC aircraft now.