Posted on 03/23/2006 9:44:44 AM PST by 68skylark
The planned integration of an enhanced communications system into the venerable A-10 aircraft could pave the way for the platform’s introduction into a cutting-edge combat package being developed by the Air Force and Army, a senior program official says.
Plans to put the airborne Enhanced Position Locating Reporting System (ELPRS) onto a number of A-10s could allow the aircraft to be folded into the Joint Mission Capability Package (JMCP) concept, said Air National Guard Col. Louis Durkac, assistant director of requirements at Air Combat Command.
The concept is designed as a “capabilities-based force package composed of fielded [weapon] systems with interoperable information network equipment,” an air service official told Inside the Air Force last summer. The original concept formulated in late July 2005, would link a number of the Air Force F-16C+ fighter squadrons with an Army Stryker brigade combat team (SBCT), forming a single joint force package (ITAF, July 8, 2005, p1).
However, Durcak told ITAF in March that once sufficient numbers of the A-10 are fielded with the integral communications data link, connecting combat aircraft with their Stryker counterparts, the aircraft could result in a new Warthog-based JMCP spiral.
“We will be engaged with the A-10 operational test community from the beginning, but they will be busy with the modernization effort for the near term,” Durcak noted in a e-mail to ITAF.
Though an A-10 component is still years away, Durcak was adamant the Warthog’s addition into the JMCP program could serve as a template for the introduction of other platforms that might be fitted with the ELPRS system.
“You can even add ELPRS equipped armor to the mix, so you [could] potentially have an Abrahms, Bradley, Stryker, F-16C+ [and] A-10 JMCP,” Durcak wrote.
Last week, ITAF reported that JMCP coordinators were close to performing operational tests of the ELPRS on Army Stryker vehicles optimized for use by the service’s Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) units.
While modernization efforts on the A-10 have opened the door for eventually attaching the Warthog onto a JMCP team, motivation for the move was based on fiscal reality as much as innovation.
F-16C+ fleet reductions -- which will reduce aircraft numbers by as much as 40 percent -- as a result of decisions the Base Realignment and Closure Commission forced onto JMCP developers to seek alternative platforms to integrate into the fledgling air-ground combat package.
“BRAC it the F-16C+ fleet pretty hard,” Durkac said. “Luckily, the Air Force has widely chosen to outfit the A-10 with the same EPLRS data link radio that the F-16C+ and Stryker carry.”
“The [Pennsylvania] National Guard is to receive the Stryker in the next year,” Durkac wrote. “And the PA Air National Guard A-10’s would have been ideally situated to pair with them.”
Air Force budget officials requested $10.7 million to finance restoration efforts on retired A-10 aircraft, to replace those lost in combat as part of the Pentagon’s supplemental funding request for fiscal year 2006 (ITAF, Feb 24, p6).
Additionally, portions of the requested funding would pay for “30 aircraft-to-aircraft, aircraft-to-ground, ground-to-aircraft data links,” according to draft versions of the FY-06 supplemental.
However, the JMCP chief was quick to point out the possibilities of the A-10’s inclusion into the joint combat package program would not diminish the role of the F-16C+ role with the Stryker teams, adding the Falcon model has been fielded with the ELPRS system since 2000.
“We envision all possible combinations, based on the requirements of the situation. A JMCP with all three systems adds loiter time, air defense, a larger weapons load and more flexibility,” Durcak noted. “The A-10 adds more interoperability into the mix -- it’s not a replacement for the F-16C+.”
Durcak added the Warthog’s reputation as the standard bearer for air-to-ground support missions, made it a “natural fit” with the effort’s specialized Stryker units.
“The A-10 is the classic close air support platform, [it] can operate from unimproved airfields closer to the ground forces,” he said --“but there are fewer of them and they are not ready.”
The move to fold the A-10 into the JMCP program and possibly extend the teams’ overall capabilities in the field, was all part of the program’s overall focus.
“The JMCP is an operational laboratory,” Durcak wrote. “ It will demonstrate the capabilities available to joint forces commander of fully interoperable air and ground systems.”
'Hogs RULE!
Now we are getting smart.
good.
every few years, the Zoomies float the notion that the A10 ought to be retired. Glad to see this upgrade program.
Save the HOGS!
Are they at or near the max hours for airframe?
If they are like the B-52, 50+ years in service, the airframes will just get rebuilt, over and over and over............................
They might be. The article refers to them as "venerable."
They fly right over my house pretty regular. I've had them low enough that I can see a helmet in the cockpit. I can hear 'em coming and always get outside to look and wave. Makes me as excited as a little boy again every single time!!
I don't know if it's a good comparison but I've always thought the Warthog is to modern days what the Thunderbolt was to WWII, a real work horse.
They came close to accomplishing that back in the late 1980's. Then Gulf War I came along and the A-10 went from orphan to the hottest aircraft in the Air Force.
I think that's an excellent comparison.
It was supposed to be retired...
Where is the link to this article?
Isn't Thunderbolt II the Warthogs' official name?
Sorry -- I don't know how I missed posting that link.
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,91385,00.html?ESRC=army-a.nl
I don't know, I've never heard that but it could be.
Yes
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