Posted on 02/25/2005 7:39:20 AM PST by pabianice
Like a cat, the USAF’s A-10 continues to demonstrate additional lives after repeated efforts by the fighter generals to bury the ungainly but potent airplane.
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration (Owego, NY) expects its first production contract in March for the A-10 Precision Engagement (PE) Program, which will give the A-10 – redesignated the A-10C once modified -- a precision-weapons capability, with several more production contracts to follow. In February 2004, Lockheed Martin was awarded an initial systems integration contract. The goal is to equip all 356 USAF A-10s with the upgrade by 2009. Lockheed Martin began the upgrade program under a 2001 $74 million development contract. The new contract will be to modify 13 aircraft, including the test bed airplane. The Precision Engagement program upgrades include installation of the Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-28(V) Litening AT and the Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR targeting pods, as well as a new databus and digital stores management system. The enhanced targeting capability is also expected to reduce friendly fire accidents inherent in close combat support operations. Once upgraded, the A-10C will be able to carry the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser, and laser-guided weapons designated by the pilot (as opposed to ordnance that must be illuminated by a third party). This will add the ability to drop such weapons as Paveway.
(Excerpt) Read more at navlog.org ...
We have got to do something about the fighter pilot mafia...
The Hog lives on!
The fighter pilot mafia is doing a fine job of pissing valuable defense dollars down a hole. We're buying F-22's when there isn't enough money to buy knee pads and optical sights for our infantry.
Warthog. The most beautiful ugly plane ever conceived.
I agree. I have lived next door to an Air Force base where some have been stationed for over 20 years.
Watching them dance around around the skies, two by two, never gets old.
Without air superiority, our infantry would be overrun by any reasonable-sized army.
There was a big training wing of A-10's at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson... used to see 'em flying over the UofA campus all the time.
100% agreement here => only better time when you get to see them do dance at local AFB Open House, where you get to hear simulation of cannon firing on target.
As a veteran who had used CAS - having an A-10 above you is a great feeling - better than any other daylight platform - the only thing better is having Spectre - but that is only at night...I'm wondering if the C version will have boosted nighttime capability. It would be pretty close to the ultimate fixed-wing counterinsurgency platform if it did.
-Eric
Was around plenty of them during my stint in the USAF and I can say the site of that beautifully ugly plane never lost it's thrill. Truly the meanest looking bird in the sky. It even looks like it was made for the sole purpose of killing bad guys.
If they let the Marines fly these things, I think it would make for a lot of happy Jarheads!
Is this for maintaining some sort of advantage in power/weight ratio as related to slower airspeed which in turn gives better target lock?
what about top speed or acceleration when the pilot makes his kill and has to get out of there?
Airplane-loving curiosity...
I'm hoping that dispensing with the third-party illumination requirement doesn't mean that they actually will dispense with it. That changes the mission drastically...and there's nothig like eyes who actually see and understand the target in real time.
Whenever I go home to Delaware to visit my parents from where I work in the DC area, I always go past Martin State Airport on the train, where the Maryland Air National Guard has some A-10's. You can always see them parked outside near the runway. They are really neat to look at.
At the least, the cowlings are to reduce heat signature. Probably other reasons too.
The coolest thing about these is that horrible roar the main gun makes, heard live because mere audio clips don't do it justice. It must be as horrifying to our enemies as it is comforting to us when we hear it.
I first heard it during a CAPEX (capability exercise) at Fort Sill. There was a target in the field in front of the grandstand, it was quiet, then an A-10 came in low from behind us and started firing its gun when it was right overhead. It scared the hell out of us, and the target was missing. The sound became very comforting when I next heard it in the Gulf War.
If you ever want to see one flying, here's a link that has a map to where they are deployed.
A-10 Map
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