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The story of the A-10 and why the F-35 cannot replace it. (video)
wimp.com ^ | 8-26-2014 | wimp.com

Posted on 08/26/2014 4:58:24 AM PDT by servo1969

Pierre Sprey is one of the original designers of the A-10 Warthog during the 1970s. He provides insight into why the aircraft is so loved by ground troops in the military, and why its recent retirement from Air Force operations is so hotly debated.

(Excerpt) Read more at wimp.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Military/Veterans; Science
KEYWORDS: a10; f35; fairchild; warthog
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1 posted on 08/26/2014 4:58:24 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969

All of the equipment and tooling used for construction of the A10 is also destroyed.

We have no wisdom.


2 posted on 08/26/2014 5:00:47 AM PDT by lurk
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To: lurk
Two pairs of A-10s fly over the Lake of the Ozarks two or three times every week. They appear to be aiming for and striking one of the new bridges across the lake...
3 posted on 08/26/2014 5:03:52 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: lurk

I don’t know why we insist on shooting ourselves in the foot like this.


4 posted on 08/26/2014 5:03:55 AM PDT by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
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To: servo1969

I saw a couple of those in the air while working east of Nellis AFB. Impressive aircraft, incredibly nimble in the sky. My first thought was “I’m sure glad they aren’t hunting me!”


5 posted on 08/26/2014 5:04:38 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: servo1969

Just the fact that our enemies fear the plane so much is more than enough reason to keep it.


6 posted on 08/26/2014 5:04:38 AM PDT by logic101.net (How many more children must die on the altar of gun free zones?)
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To: lurk

Why get rid of them?
Easy- There’s no profit to be made on keeping the perfect plane we already have. We need a new plane with new training classes and new programs and new infrastructure and new spare parts production and...
Make no mistake- they’d retire and replace our B-52s and C-130s if they could convince enough people to do it.


7 posted on 08/26/2014 5:09:42 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969

loved the ravens logo on the a-10 in the video...
loved the flight simulator game a-10 tank killer...

hate the fact they are scrapping this friend of infantry.

i hope it is because we are arming grunts with laser weaponry.

but i doubt it.

t


8 posted on 08/26/2014 5:09:53 AM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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To: logic101.net

Obama is just protecting all those tanks, trucks, and humvees he made sure went to ISIS.


9 posted on 08/26/2014 5:09:56 AM PDT by Ray76 (True change requires true change - A Second Party ...or else it's more of the same...)
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To: servo1969

Much of the higher up brass dislike the warthog due to it not being, in their eyes, as “sexy” as an F15 or F16.
The previous “retirement” of the A10 and attempt to replace it with the F16 was reasoned this way: A10 is designed to survive hits, F16 is designed to avoid them.
Anyone with a brain can see the obvious problems with this as the F16 isn’t designed to survive a ground CAS environment.
Neither is the F35...
Sooooo, the same idiocy, repeated twenty years on.


10 posted on 08/26/2014 5:10:16 AM PDT by Darksheare (Try my coffee! First one's free..... Even robots will kill for it!)
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To: servo1969

Simply my favorite airplane since WWII.

We were stopping for fuel on our way to Cabo at some airport in California (IIRC) in my sister’s Citation and the field was an A-10 base. they were doing takeoffs and landings in pairs. It was a real treat.

I hear that at night, from the pilot’s perspective, firing that gatling gun is like firing a laser.


11 posted on 08/26/2014 5:10:37 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: servo1969

There’s another interview with this designer available on the net...not much different.

It’s hard to argue with literally any aspect of the realization of the design objectives of this airplane....unless your goal is to produce a dozens-of-millions-of-dollars-per-copy edifice of complexity. This inexpensive, 40-year-old plane turned out exactly how they wanted it and it achieved (AFAIK) every design objective, absolutely beautiful in its ugliness and ruthless in its effectiveness. We should be building them or an upgraded equivalent today.


12 posted on 08/26/2014 5:13:46 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing)
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To: lurk

Davis-Mothan is full of A-10 airframes and Boeing had a contract to rebuild the wings of active A-10s so we don’t need the original tooling.


13 posted on 08/26/2014 5:16:26 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: servo1969
At one of the USAF “Gunsmoke” aerial gunnery competitions in the 1990s, Three A-10 units placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd against all of the fast mover jets. The USAF dropped Gunsmoke and it was later revived as "Hawgsmoke" in the 2000s for the A-10 community. These meets are run at the Nellis AFB ranges outside Las Vegas, NV.

There is no other jet in the U.S. inventory that can do close air support like the A-10. To compare the F-35 JSF to an A-10 is utter nonsense. The F-35 is totally unsuited for the CAS mission and would become a big, expensive, smoking hole in the ground if it tried to do CAS.

14 posted on 08/26/2014 5:17:34 AM PDT by MasterGunner01
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To: servo1969

The A-10 embodies the American spirit in the form of a “can of whoopass”. Need I say more?


15 posted on 08/26/2014 5:18:50 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Darksheare

“Sooooo, the same idiocy, repeated twenty years on.”

Correct but you are off by about twenty years. I was with Fairchild, although in another division, when the aircraft was being developed (early 1970s). The Air Force actually forced a fly-off against the A-7. They just couldn’t stand the thought of adding a ‘slow’ aircraft to their inventory. They even tried to rig the results in favor of speed. Luckily the Army horned in and insisted that battlefield support actually be the measuring stick.

Another interesting fact - bad weather operations. The West Germans wanted 1002-1500 to stop a rapid invasion by the Russians, but the crummy weather concerned them. Fairchild built a two seat version especially for night and bad weather operations. I believe it is still parked in a desert bone yard.

The Germans loved it and all was a go until America made its first major mistake of the 20th Century. Peanut Carter was elected and decided that “America should stop being the arms dealer for the world.” Told the Germans ‘no’ and actually reduced the US order (if memory serves me correct, something like 2000 down to 1200).

Considering how many fools have tried to kill the A-10, it’s kind of a miracle it has survived this long!


16 posted on 08/26/2014 5:26:09 AM PDT by I cannot think of a name
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To: Caipirabob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Ti7Jrh_JE


17 posted on 08/26/2014 5:26:40 AM PDT by Dusty Road
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To: lurk

Has it been retired?

Last I heard the retirement was still being debated, and Congress was probably going to override the AF and put the planes back into the budget.


18 posted on 08/26/2014 5:29:33 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: servo1969
Sequestration goes on for another 9 years.

But we's gots da fud stamps!

19 posted on 08/26/2014 5:31:21 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: lurk

“All of the equipment and tooling used for construction of the A10 is also destroyed.”

WHY do they do sh#$ like this? Do they think that the Commies are going to get their hands on it or something??? This is a big country. Don’t we have the space for it????


20 posted on 08/26/2014 5:33:00 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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