Posted on 09/23/2014 1:00:09 PM PDT by blam
Christopher Harress, International Business Times
September 23, 2014
A-10 Warthog in Afghanistan upload.wikimedia.org
As the U.S. begins bombing ISIS targets in Syria with a campaign of airstrikes that started Monday, a venerable airplane that was almost sent to the scrapyard joins the fight. The Pentagon will send a dozen A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft and up to 300 airmen to the Middle East in early October, to help in the conflict against the Islamic State group, the Indiana National Guard said.
The deployment of the 40-year-old aircraft comes just four months after it was controversially saved from defense cuts by Congress, whose rationale for saving it was simple: Cutting it would lead to the deaths of U.S. servicemen on the ground.
Built originally by now-defunct Fairchild to destroy Soviet tanks in Europe, the A-10 survived the end of the Cold War thanks to its ability to fly low, carry lots of bombs and a large cannon, and help troops with close air support, which made it often invaluable in Afghanistan. But with defense cuts looming and the Afghan war winding down, the Thunderbolt seemed on the way out.
The aircraft, while favored by some Air Force top brass, was slated to be cut from the defense budget in early May, with potential savings of about $4 billion over a five-year period. The more than 300 A-10s in service would have been grounded.
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Better than it did for the troops.
Just wondering since I still use a 5 year old tracfone.
Me, too. It’s good enough for me.
If you mean shots were fired at the bathtub, yes, and the windscreen, yes. But these pieces were not on an assembled jet.
Yeah. . .and obama is using Johnson’s meddling as a guide to the “proper” application of military force.
Awww - you interrupted the cheese-eating and bread-slicing - how gauche!! One of our new LTs, a USMA grad and French-speaker, was sent as an exchange officer for a short while to a French tactical missile unit (PLUTON) that was similar to our unit (LANCE). He came back with some interesting stories about meals.
It’s the companies that need the money and it’s the politicians who need the funding from the companies. Is that considered capitalism?
Please do, I'm sitting here laughing.
Oh, dang all this time I thought they fired live rounds at it while a live test pilot flew the plane. Apparently we didn’t need to do that ourselves since our enemies (foolish enough as it may seem) are lining up to do it themselves. The A-10 has never the less proven itself dauntless in battle
Was stationed at Davis Monthan AFB in 75 when this beautiful perfect killing machine was unleashed ! Perfection personified imo an experience .
Great airplane. Magical when combined with a tactical air control party (TACP) on the ground in contact with the enemy.....
The USAF P47, the RAF Hawker Typhoon, and the US Navy and Marine F4U Corsair all excelled at ground attack during World War II but none were designed as ground attack.. all were designed as fighters and found a calling in the ground attack role.
In fact no version on the P47 was designed from the factory as ground attack.
The P47 D did double double duty as a fighter and fighter bomber..be close to todays swing Fighter concept
The later P47M for Europe was stripped down lighter version with higher power R2800C engine pure fighter version they will pull off the bomb racks.. The P47N had extended wings for internal wing fuel tanks and extended range.. it was used in the Pacific at the forward island bases to reach Japan
There was a post war ground attack version of the Corsair the F4U6 / AU1...
But again none were designed from the start as a ground attack aircraft ...There's even a ground attack version of the F15. ..the F15E ...But no one ever say the F 15 was a ground attack aircraft only
The A10 was designed as a ground attack aircraft only from the start.. and one would ever confuse it with being a fighter aircraft
I'd love to Michelle Bachmann float a bill to sell the entire fleet of these to the Israeli's for One Dollar and see who would oppose it to wake up these dunderheads in Congress.
The Israeli's would come up with new Drawings ( CAD ) and go from their with CAM. I see no problem with the manufacturing technologies available today to literally make parts as needed from Math Models.
Can you imagine the magic the Israeli's would perform on this bird like the did the F4 Phantom?
Engine upgrade competition for a Geared Fan with lower TSFC and noise and more thrust works for me as well.
Curious... “The Pentagon will send a dozen A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft and up to 300 airmen to the Middle East in early October, to help in the conflict against the Islamic State group, the Indiana National Guard said. “
Will they be flown all the way from Indiana to the ME or do they get them there by ship?
They’ll fly them...tanker and transport aircraft will be in the mix as well.
Thanks x 2.
Can 3-D printers make parts?
whatever happened to OPSEC? why do we know who is going there when we know that we have enemies in our land?
How about, ‘Mothballed’...
Heck, you give that plane to the Marines and we don’t need the other branches...
The Air Staff must be shit@@@@ bricks, again.
A little history is in order.
In the late 1980’s the Air Staff was directed to use the A-10 funding line to help start funding the F-22 program. Then DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM erupted on the world stage. Things got very interesting in August 1990 as the serving AF/CC, General Michael J. Dugan, tried to push the F-16C as the only ground attack aircraft available to support Gen Norman Schwarzkopf’s efforts; Gen Schwarzkopf wanted A-10s. Gen Dugan was relieved of duty about a month later serving on 78 days as AF/CC. That was the shortest tour of duty as AF/CC by a wide margin.
A decade later, the AF Staff tried again this time to fund the F-35 program. Then September 11, 2001 happened.
The 13 years, the Air Staff tried again - any need to repeat today’s headlines?
Bottom line - like it or not, the A-10’s Statement of Work lead to the development of the world’s premier ground attack jet. And, until the AF develops a replacement with the same abilities, the Air Staff is going to be repeatedly frustrated as they push light fighters as a suitable substitute.
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