Posted on 07/05/2007 2:40:09 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Boeing has won a $2 billion contract to build new wings for the US Air Force's Fairchild A-10 ground-attack aircraft, after beating rival bids from contractors including Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Announced on 29 June, the deal calls for the delivery of 242 replacement wing kits for installation by the USAF's Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah, with the work to extend the life of the A-10 fleet by at least 20 years.
More than 700 A-10s were introduced from 1976 and, despite regular threats of retirement, the type remains one of the air force's most effective close-air support platforms.
Lockheed is performing a wider precision engagement upgrade to the aircraft, and the resulting A-10C configuration will have new avionics equipment and an expanded range of air-to-surface weapons.
Boeing has yet to select its fabrication contractors for the rewinging project, which will begin with an 18-month engineering phase and is scheduled for completion by September 2018.
Boeing Macon will put the wing kits together for installation by the air force depot. The replacement design is based on the "thick" wing fitted to late production examples of the A-10.
Meanwhile, the USAF has awarded Korean Air a contract worth $16 million to continue service-life extension work on its A-10s until 2009. The company has previously modified 180 of the type at its Gimhae facility in South Korea.
What’s funny is that P-51 could outrun that A-10.
Alright!!!! This is fantastic!!
The Russians seem to be pretty good at it.
With superior firepower, only if the A-10 wanted it to. The Mustang is one of the most beautiful airplanes ever created...but so is the A-10. How can ANYONE think the A-10 is ugly??? (in my best Steve Irwin) She's a beauty!
Maybe the Air Force holds the design patents....it was built to government spec’s
I think I see your point, but let’s put this in more common terms. Are you saying that if you have a 30 year old Ford Mustang, then only a Ford dealer can work on it? Are you saying that only Ford can sell you parts? If you take it to someone other than Ford, are you in breach of contract or some law because you took your car to someone else? Can you buy aftermarket parts that improve the performance? At what point is it your car and you can do with it what you will?
I am sure they are upgraded wings and you have to do to dodge a design copyright if there really is one is move around a rivet or two.
It still burns me that the Air Force tried to first replace these with F-16s (”A-16’s...what a friggin’ joke), and now with Joint Strike Fighters. The Pentagon certainly has its share of fools.
And I remember just before the Iraq War 1 how these beauties were scheduled to be SCRAPPED in order to save costs for the upcoming more advanced aircrafts.
Now they are the frontline swords as they were destined to be used against the enemies.
Who knew that blasting people as they run around on camelback through the desert was about to become a primary role of the US Air Force?
In any case, the A-10 is suited admirably for the job.
Could be — whatever the contract said.
As a consultant, certain things I produced belonged to my employer, some the customer and some myself.
We are speaking about “Registered Copyrights” here and there is a section on the Form TX, to identify the Copyright Claimants and a section for transfers.
Nice!! The keg-engines are a nice touch, and I’m sure they’re mileage boosters as well!
Unrelated, but still of interest...Why isn't the B-52 getting new engines? Seems to me that they could add range, speed reliability, and payload by converting to four, modern engines.
Yeah the enemy can’t see which side is up. They should paint one on the other end so they can’t see which way it’s going either!
It’s an old Warthog running joke to talk about how slow it is. The pilots who fly them know them all and can tell them the best.
Two jokes that I’ve heard about A-10s:
The A-10’s airspeed indicator is a pocket calendar.
The A-10 takes birdstrikes from the rear.
Of course, that is from F-16 guys whose brethren got their planes chewed to hell trying to fly the A-10’s mission. A few years back, some genius at the Pentagon decided that they could put 30mm gun pods on the F-16 and go hit tanks. It didn’t work worth a crap, the F-16 could not take the hits from ground fire and be survivable.
The Canadaians started that with their F-18s. After someone in the USAF brightened up...we started doing it as well.
And I do not know if it is the same...but I have seen an all black A-10 two seater [test aircraft] with a clear canopy, used to display geared up, precision night attack variant. Dont know whatever came of it though...
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