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The Air Force is Quietly Killing Off the A-10—Over Congress’ Protests
War is Boring ^ | November 15, 2013 | Dave Majumdar

Posted on 11/15/2013 5:31:04 AM PST by C19fan

A bipartisan group of senators and congressmen is fighting back against the U.S. Air Force’s move to prematurely retire all 350 of its A-10 Warthog attack planes between 2015 and 2018.

But the flying branch is already strangling the A-10 force with budget cuts, upgrade cancellations and a reduced contingent of new pilots.

The battle is intensifying in Washington, D.C. over the legendary warplane, which was originally meant to destroy Soviet tanks and has flown thousands of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, saving scores of American lives with its overwhelming firepower.

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


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: 113th; a10; aerospace; bhodod; cas; thunderbolt; usaf; warthog
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To: C19fan

Truthfully, the A-10 has always been needed by the Army, for *their* mission, instead of the Air Force, for *their* mission. So the easiest way, which will be like pulling teeth, is for the A-10 to be given to the Army.

It cannot be a direct, 1 to 1 transfer, however, because the Army needs airfields and ground maintenance. And doing these alone, just for one aircraft, is not cost effective. So the way around this problem is to create a squadron of a single manned A-10, *accompanied* by a group of four drone aircraft with a similar CAS purpose.

Thus, instead of “point” CAS, the squadron would provide “area” CAS, with five times the firepower. The tactics of such a squadron would be very different. For example, instead of a “V” formation, they would use an inverted “V” formation.

Because drone aircraft can have a much higher speed and greater mach maneuverability, they are far more capable of evading surface to air attacks. Thus, when the squadron entered a high AAA zone, the drones would be first engaged, and evade the incoming, as the manned A-10 took out the AAA positions. And once an area was cleared of its AAA, all the aircraft would be able to smite ground targets at will.


21 posted on 11/15/2013 6:09:18 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (War on Terror news at rantburg.com)
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To: C19fan

The plane is far, far too cheap, too effective, and has been upgraded about as far as it can go. Thus nobody can get a multi-million dollar contract to renew the valve stems in the tires.


22 posted on 11/15/2013 6:14:41 AM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing)
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To: C19fan

When you hear that God awful growl from it’s guns in the distance, you know someone just entered the gates of hell.
I’ve seen the enemy actually sh*t themselves when they hear the roar of the gun.
Give the plane to the Marines or the Army. A bad ass plane for a bad ass soldier.


23 posted on 11/15/2013 6:17:13 AM PST by baddog 219
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To: JRandomFreeper

Look for them to show up in the Marine Corps!!


24 posted on 11/15/2013 6:18:12 AM PST by ontap
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To: C19fan
Of course the Air Force hates it.

It's old, not new and glamorous.

It's slow - by design and intent to fulfill it's mission. But no self respecting zoomie wants to fly a slow aircraft.

Even worse, it is simple. It makes all their other maintenance intensive (ie. costly) aircraft look bad by comparison.

Perhaps most damaging... It is a ground support aircraft. Meaning that when it flies missions the AF isn't the lead service, they are supporting another service in their mission. So when it succeeds, it is seen as "The Army took ..." or "The Marines successfully held..." and then in the third paragraph there is a mention of the AF support missions.

So yes, as others have suggested, maybe these units should be transitioned en-mass to the Army and/or Marines.

25 posted on 11/15/2013 6:19:49 AM PST by ThunderSleeps (Stop obarma now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: baddog 219
I did 6 months at No Hope Pope AFB as backfill during the beginning of the war. Hearing the A-10s gave me a warm fuzzy, and made me sleep better.

/johnny

26 posted on 11/15/2013 6:20:45 AM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: US Navy Vet

That sure appears to be true.


27 posted on 11/15/2013 6:29:16 AM PST by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: JRandomFreeper
and they are tough as hell!
28 posted on 11/15/2013 6:31:03 AM PST by Syntyr (Happiness is two at low eight!)
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To: C19fan
The A-10 must be the most hated, by the Air Force brass, most successful aircraft in history. From what I understand, the plane had to be shoved down the Air Force during the 70s because it was not a glamarous Mach 2 fighter. The types of wars the US has been finding itself in requires close combat air support and the A-10 has fulfilled the mission. The expensive and vulnerable planes talked about as a replacement are not up to the task.

I was stationed at Myrtle Beach when they came in to the inventory and replaced the A-7s that were basically jet powered rocks - lose power and they "glided" like a rock.

The A-7s were loud and would shake the barracks and keep you awake at night. The A-10s sounded more like supercharged vacuum cleaners with the turbo fans and made sleeping through night sorties a lot easier.

They made for some awesome air shows (when the pilots didn't press the takeoff envelope too far and bang a wingtip into the ground). I can still see one going down the runway and not looking like it had enough speed to take off when the wheels would retract almost without first leaving the ground and the plane would seem to just be hovering above the runway only without the landing gear. Then, it would move sharply up while making a hard turn and you just knew it couldn't do that. They also had a quick turn capability so by the time someone would duck to evade cannon fire, it was already coming back from the opposite direction. It was able to maneuver some turns and rolls where you would swear it was now going away from you and next thing be screaming hard at you.

I never tired of watching them fly and they were known for coming back with so many holes and missing parts that it seemed impossible that they were still flying - awesome tank killers with a lot of other close air support capabilities and survivability. hate to see them go.

29 posted on 11/15/2013 6:34:01 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: C19fan

The Army-Air Force split gave all fixed wing airplanes to the USAF. The A-10 really should be an exception.


30 posted on 11/15/2013 6:43:32 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: C19fan

Get the A-10 out of the AirForce and give it to the Army.


31 posted on 11/15/2013 6:45:26 AM PST by taxcontrol
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
The army does have a few fixed wing aircraft. None that are armed, that I know of.

Yep. Give the A-10 to the Army and Marines. They know how to use it.

/johnny

32 posted on 11/15/2013 7:07:09 AM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: OldMissileer; JRandomFreeper; C19fan

I’ve been to air shows where the A10 did a fly over. Talk about awe inspiring. It’s a nearly unbreakable, well armored, flying gun platform. What’s not to love?


33 posted on 11/15/2013 7:10:28 AM PST by Hardastarboard (You can keep your doctor - if you lock him in your basement.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Yeah, or they could just be turned over to the Marine Corps.


34 posted on 11/15/2013 7:17:11 AM PST by Mr. Lucky
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To: Hardastarboard

Maybe the hate comes from liberals trying to transsexualize the services. The A-10 evokes pure flying testosterone.


35 posted on 11/15/2013 7:19:24 AM PST by Anton.Rutter
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To: Anton.Rutter

Yeah, but it does kind of have that badonkadonk butt look to it.......


36 posted on 11/15/2013 7:22:18 AM PST by tacticalogic
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To: Uncle Chip
The Air Force is now populated by pussies who want to fly drones from cockpits in warehouses where the only flack they get is from eating the last donut.

And wear flight suits and demand combat pay.

37 posted on 11/15/2013 7:34:02 AM PST by CPOSharky (Expect less, pay more (With apologies to Target))
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To: C19fan
My father was career Army and a WWII combat veteran in the Pacific theater. He said the Army and the Navy were lousy at close air support (CAS). Only the Marines knew how to do it right, and he & his men always felt good when it was the Leathernecks pounding the Japs. I am a former Navy fighter pilot, and agree with my father. The Air Force and Navy don't like the CAS mission. It's only the Marines who integrate it fully with their air-ground task forces.
38 posted on 11/15/2013 7:49:09 AM PST by twister881
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To: C19fan

They’ve been trying to kill the A-10 for a long time, and yet it never seems to go away. When I stop seeing them in the skies above Tucson for a year I’ll believe they actually finally killed it.


39 posted on 11/15/2013 8:02:14 AM PST by discostu (This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there.)
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To: C19fan

My fantasy ground-attack/CAS weapon system from hell would be an A-10 with two drones, one under each wing: Kind of the Dr. Evil and mini-me look. And the smaller drone planes would be equipped with remote-aim/fire Dillon Aero miniguns!


40 posted on 11/15/2013 8:06:25 AM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing)
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