The A-10 in T2k - still the most flying?

[mpipes]

The story goes that when USAF Gen Horner arrived in Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield in 1990 and briefed USA Gen Schwarzkopf on the deploying Air Force assets, he left off any mention of the A-10. After Gen Horner finished his briefing, Gen Schwarzkopf inquired as to "when are the A-10s arriving." Gen Horner replied there were none that what he briefed was what the Air Force was deploying for the air plan and that did not include A-10s. Gen Schwarzkopf then said "General, I don't think you heard me. WHEN ARE MY A-10S ARRIVING."

Needless to say, Gen Schwarzkopf got his A-10s.

IMHO the F-35 can't do that close support mission. Stealth won't do it any good in daylight trying to deliver ordnance on target. I don't think it can carry the weapons load to do the job either. Its also madness to send an almost $100,000,000 airplane down into the AAA arena to do the A-10s mission. If they do retire the A-10, eventually it will be discovered that the F-35 can't do the mission near as well.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by mpipes

IMHO the F-35 can't do that close support mission. Stealth won't do it any good in daylight trying to deliver ordnance on target. I don't think it can carry the weapons load to do the job either. Its also madness to send an almost $100,000,000 airplane down into the AAA arena to do the A-10s mission. If they do retire the A-10, eventually it will be discovered that the F-35 can't do the mission near as well.

I agree; my worry is that the A10s won't be "retired", they'll be sent to D-M and chopped into scrap just as quickly as the USAF can do so, so the Army can't try and acquire them and Congress/JCS can't make them fly them again.

See the F117-A Nighthawk is "Retired" but those birds are inside, in climate-controlled storage kept in flyable condition should the need arise. If the USAF is given even an inkling that they can ship all the Warthogs off to D-M they won't hesitate to bust them up. Watch.

[Panther Al]

All I got to say - other than the A10 needs to stay in service, or at least, replaced with a newer version that shares all the capabilities of the existing one without exception - is this:

HR 4739. Put before the US House back in 91' I believe.

In it, it directs the Air Force to transfer the A10 and all supporting elements to the US Army as soon as it is deemed practicable upon the retirement of the OV1 Mohawk.

The Army held up its end: it dumped the Mohawk. Still waiting on the Air Force to do the same. I think the issue might be the Senate, and I can not find anything that says they did or did not have put its stamp on it.

[kcdusk]

Our playing party were moving at maximum speed across the wide, open, field. Breaking from their last engagement the 5 vehicles were moving at maximum speed, a massive cloud of dust easily showing their escape.

"Contact at 7'O'Clock" boomed over the radio!

All eyes moved to that direction, how could the enemy have moved into that position?

Despite all the eyes, no contact could be seen. And then, AND THEN, a massive dark cloud passed directly over the convoy! The A-10 warthog had passed at low altitude, directly over the playing parties convoy. Nobody had been checking for any contacts above the horizon!

"Break break break!' and each of the 5 vehicles spread out and headed for wood lands at different points of the compass. The Hog gave one vehicle a mouthful of 30mm, and another vehicle got a 110mm shot that exploded nearby.

4 hours later. Under the cover of darkness, each of the 5 vehicles re-grouped. The playing partys conversation goes like this;

Player 1: we need, neeeed to get outahere! Thats an A10! Its going to rip us 5 new ones!!!

Player 2: No, we need to continue, we could capture this thing!

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Panther Al

All I got to say - other than the A10 needs to stay in service, or at least, replaced with a newer version that shares all the capabilities of the existing one without exception - is this:

HR 4739. Put before the US House back in 91' I believe.

In it, it directs the Air Force to transfer the A10 and all supporting elements to the US Army as soon as it is deemed practicable upon the retirement of the OV1 Mohawk.

The Army held up its end: it dumped the Mohawk. Still waiting on the Air Force to do the same. I think the issue might be the Senate, and I can not find anything that says they did or did not have put its stamp on it.

In my mind, there are a lot of aircraft that belong in the Army. The A-10, the Harrier, the F-35B (if it ever appears as a decent platform, it's not now), the C-23, the Osprey, the Pucara, and probably more that are escaping me at the moment. The A-10 and the Pucara, in particular, make excellent ground support aircraft.

[Matt Wiser]

Since half of the active A-10 fleet is in the Guard or AFRES, watch for the Senators and Congresscritters whose districts have such units to fight tooth and nail to preserve them. You might even have the entire A-10 fleet go to the ANG to make the active AF happy (a la the A-7 back in the '70s).

[Sanjuro]

We had a lecture once from an A-10 pilot who reckoned they would all survive WW3, as they flew so slowly the war would be over by the time they reached the front...

[Olefin]

actually that might mean the Russians are all out of missiles shooting down F-16's and 15's so the A-10's catch them in their reload cycle?