Combat crop duster

[The Dark]

Sounds similar to an Antonov An-2, modified and hyper-specialized for a combat role. During the Croatian War for Independence, An-2 cropdusters were modified for use as bombers because they could fly so slow that radar-guided SAMs wouldn't lock on them.

[mpipes]

Soooooo let me get this straight.

The A-10 is obsolete because it can't fly faster than about 450kts and operates too low. Never mind the fact that it can take heavy ground fire and even direct hits from SAMs and bring its pilot home. And it carries a heavy combat load backed up by a 30mm cannon.

Now, they agree that the F-35 is too vulnerable and expensive. So what to do? Apparently, the USAF want a single prop engine plane derived from a crop duster, lighter armor, slower at about 200kts, lower ceiling, no cannon, and no where near as much combat load. And oh yes, the A-10 is still too slow and flies to low and thus too vulnerable. Does anyone else see a problem with this proposal - as in dumb as hell?

And yep...in TW 2000 situation anything that flies is better than nothing.

[Olefin]

Oh I would take an A-10 in a heartbeat over this plane - but if you dont have any A-10's its a lot better than nothing

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Now maybe I'm being a little crazy or perhaps conspiratorially minded but...

We've heard plenty of tales that the USAF has tried to get rid of the A-10 and failed to do so. So now we have a test programme to find an aircraft that would "conveniently" remove the need for the A-10 in the Air Force arsenal... just sayin'

[stg58fal]

That has got to be one of the most pointless things I've ever seen.

The A-10 already fills that role, AND it won't get knocked out of the air by a PK machinegun, nevermind something in the 12.7-14.5mm range.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

To be fair, aircraft like that have been very successful in the COIN role and it's actually better than the aircraft they would have used for CAS in WW2, Korea and other wars in the 1950s.

However... as indicated by you, the number of 12.7mm and 14.5mm machineguns on armoured and non-armoured vehicles and the autocannon on various IFVs/MICVs these days let alone the proliferation of SAMs/ManPADS really does call into question the survivability of such an aircraft... that turbo-prop exhaust would run hot enough for even older heat-seekers to lock on to (the Brit SAS had success with a Stinger versus IA.58 Pucara during the Falklands stoush and back then those Stinger IR seeker heads were 1970s technology).

[Olefin]

I actually like the aircraft but I also share your doubts about its survivability against any properly equipped adversary. I could see the Mexican Air Force for instance using an aircraft like this against internal rebels - in Chiapas they really were only facing people with rifles and at most light machine guns

In a Twilight 2000 scenario I could see aircraft like this being deployed in 1999-2001 as ways to get some air support better than a Cessna with a machine gun mounted on it as aviation fuel supply and lack of spare parts grounds military aircraft and as SAM's/MANPADS are discarded by troops who havent seen a plane in the sky in months or longer - and thus dont have them when they need them.