Posted on 11/21/2007 4:33:45 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
SPANGDAHLEM, Germany – Tracking and pursuing enemy forces on the ground should be easier for A-10 pilots with the 81st Fighter Squadron when they go downrange early next year.
By the time they deploy, leaders hope the unit’s 18 aircraft will be outfitted with new targeting systems. Three already have been installed with six more on the way.
The technology allows pilots to deploy laser-guided munitions, pursue moving targets at night with infrared imaging and stabilize points on the ground while maneuvering. The information is routed from a targeting pod attached under the wing to a monitor in the one-man cockpit. Ground forces also have access to the images coming from the plane.
“It’s like a super-powered binocular,” said 1st Lt. Stephen Bowen, who will be deploying for the first time with the unit. It is still unknown where the squadron will be sent.
But Bowen and the other pilots are learning to use the new systems with caution.
It’s apparently easy to get caught up watching the tracking screen, jokingly referred to as the “drool cup.” So pilots are learning to strike a balance between using the targeting system and their tried-and-true technique of simply looking out the window.
Watching the monitor too much can be dangerous because “it’s like looking through a soda straw,” Bowen said. “It’s a very limited field of vision … In some cases, it’s better not to use it at all.”
The unit just got back to Spangdahlem after a seven-week training mission at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. There they worked with the new targeting technology and participated in two close-air support exercises with the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines, and British forces.
The scenarios allowed the unit the rare opportunity “to integrate with all the different assets,” said Maj. Mark Lambertsen, the unit’s second in command.
Built to operate near the front lines, the A-10 can fly at low air speeds and altitude. It can survive direct hits from armor-piercing and high explosive projectiles up to 23 mm. Pilots are protected by titanium armor that also protects parts of the flight-control system.
Close-air support missions are expected to be the unit’s primary focus downrange, Lambertsen said.
“The toughest part is keeping track of all the moving parts to make sure everyone’s de-conflicted and to maintain situational awareness,” he said.
The key to close-air support is “finding the fine line between trying to support them with air power and to do things fast without messing up,” Lambertsen said. “We can’t afford any mistakes.”
“I understand they still suffer birdstrikes from the rear.”
My favorite A-10 cartoon.
Russian tank travelling down the road with an A-10 in the background. One Russian crewman says: “Crank it up another notch, he’s gaining on us.”
OK, I don’t understand a darned thing other than that red triangle xyz is a bandit....am I right?
The original 'targeting system' was a grease pencil marking up the cockpit. After the cannon fired, the canopy was so dirty, it had to RTB as IFR. The cannon also jammed easily and repeatidly before fixes were in place. Nicknamed the Flying M16 by some of my peers, they changed their tune when we started to light up some real armor (ONTOS, T48, T55, etc)
One was test was to put about 20 airmen out on the dry lake-bed at Range 63 (out by Indian Springs) -we were to call in on the radio when we spotted the A10. THis was usually a “it just flew over” call - very quiet aircraft.
There is a current version two seater - it’s called an OA-10. Talk about CAS with an attitude!
yeap that was a good shot of the F35
I think the words are actually, "Ol' Hick'ry said..." It's a common mistake. "Old Hickory" was the nickname for Andrew Jackson, who later became our seventh president. "Stonewall" was the nickname for Thomas J. Jackson, a Confederate general in The War of Northern Aggression. They were both sons of the South.
I think of the F-22 as rather like James Bond in black tie at a party with his Walther. Suave, debonair, sophisticated, and deadly. Able to put a 9mm Kurz round between the opponent's eyes before he even knows what happened.
The A-10 is more like a big guy with a two day beard and carrying a hefty toolbox showing up on your front porch and saying, "Anybody here call about sumthin' needs destroyin'?"
I'm not an A-10 pilot and had nothing to do with this MFD or any other military MFD.
My educated guess: the XYZ's look like the good guys, where XYZ would be replaced by real aircraft identifiers so members of the same attack group can identify and track each other. It looks like the red triangle points to a ground target, probably assigned to aircraft red XYZ. Since red XYZ is a different shape (diamond versus rectangle) than the other XYZ's, red diamond must be own aircraft. The red target looks to be an SA6 missile site. The 15 next to the target would indicate the effective range in nm for the target (SA6 missiles have a 15 nm range.) The map range is 20nm so I'm within the danger zone for my target.
Of course this is all simulated because my map coordinates put me in south central NY state. There are lots of 'rats in NY, but thankfully, they don't have SA6's.
LOLOL! Good one.
Meanwhile at home, our enemies at ANSWER are trying to raise disability from exposure to uranium bullets to the level of Agent Orange.
LOL!! I hadn't heard that one before!
Look up the current mortality rates for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and remember that both were nuked.
You worry too much.
It's my suspicious nature. I married into a 'rat family. I don't trust any of them...well maybe Mrs. 50mm.
LOL
sure are pretty aren;t they
Yes, pretty dang awesome!!
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