Posted on 04/28/2011 9:04:38 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
51’s didn’t like ground fire. You need a fast plane that can carry a load like a Corsair or a P-47. Skyraiders were a good choice. It’s has to fly faster than a DshK can be tracked on you.
Afghans popped SA-7’s at AC-130’s. You need to move fast and loiter a long time.
Balloons are the answer. The enemy sees that big Mr. Peanut balloon coming, and right away, they want a beer and quit shooting so they can head for the bar. Or, better yet, pump some gas into Joy Behar’s big,empty jug-of-a-head and float her over the enemy. Geez, look up and see that, especially if she wasn’t wearing underwear, and your eyes would melt.
Since the Navy and AF already use them as a training aircraft, they already have support personnel and pilots familiar with it, as well as an existing supply chain.
Makes sense from that standpoint.
I love your posts. Military hardware is cool.
First of all Dr. Goure confuses the LAS with the LAAR programs which are entirely different. LAS is intended to supply the Afghan National Army Air Corps with a light attack aircraft and LAAR will create a CONUS-based squadron to train foreign pilots in current TTPs. Thus LAAR aircraft will never "join" HBC MC-12s in theater.
Next, Dr. Goure obviously didn't read the RFP because their never was one for LAAR. It will be a subsequent award under the LAS RFP. Further, the LAS RFP never called for the aircraft to come equipped with a "canon" but instead specified twin .50s (BTW, the AT-6 does not have internally mounted guns as does the Super Tucano, resulting in the loss of two external hardpoints and the increased drag of gun pods).
Dr. Goure then refers to the AT-6 as a "low risk" solution which stretches credulity. There are only two AT-6 prototypes in existence and the aircraft is not certified to drop weapons. According to the Luke AFB newspaper, HBC will not begin attempting to qualify laser-guided munitions on the aircaft until after contract award this summer. Low risk?
Finally, Dr. Goure states there would be operational challenges to a foreign solution (read: Super Tucano) which again betrays Dr. Goure's frail grasp of the material. The AT-6 is still in development and far from operational unlike the Super Tucano which is operational in five different air forces (soon to be seven) including well-publicized instances of employing LGBs at night to whack FARC HVTs.
I have come to expect better from Dr. Goure and The Lexington Institute. This is not one of their better efforts.
I read it in an assessment by him of various aircraft. No, it is my understanding that he didn’t shoot down any confirmed P-47s but I think there was one perhaps. He did indeed spend most of his time on the eastern front. He tried, but didn’t manage to take out a P-47. The wing spars on that were quite stout, and the plane flew off after he engaged it.
When comparing “kill” totals, one must keep in mind that national standards were different.
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