Posted on 10/17/2017 6:50:23 AM PDT by rktman
hey thanks. It looks like the army gets to call the shots for its own needs ?
The A-10 gun is actually less accurate. That’s by design. You can’t run a barrel that hard and hot and have any of the accuracy as a low-cyclic, single-barrel gun.
The A-10 relies on armor piercing ammo vs anti-material, so the rounds are compatible, but not optimized either way.
I’d think the Army would agree to buy for the USAF as it would be dirty nasty beautiful Soldiers underneath the Hercs- kinda like a “vested” interest in decent ammo.
On the other hand, the Army brass should look at the USAF budget and tell them to cut out about half a billion in fluffy garbage that does not bring steel to the enemy....and buy their own damned bullets.
Actually, the A-10 GAU-8 has an 80% mil dispersion pattern, meaning 80% of the rounds hit where you are aiming.
Pretty darned accurate. Not as accurate as a sniper firing single-shot, but much more accurate than any other fighter, and at extended ranges.
I would fly training missions out of Zaragosa, Spain, and on that range I would crank the mil-dot to 70-mils and would hit targets at 12,000 feet. After trigger pull I would turn 90-degrees and count to three and then the rounds would hit the target. Now, that was fun.
When flying CAS the A-10 does multiple passes in the target area and heat build-up does occur, that is why the gun isn’t fired long and hard, and cooling takes place as the jet re-positions for another gun pass.
The rounds can be a mix and match configuration. Armor-piercing and TP or HEI, or HEI and TP (anti-personnel), those are a great mix, and are used against everything from armor to personnel. Tracers are never loaded in the A-10 because of its close and far accuracy.
It is not launched with just armor piercing and the jet is not just armor piercing, never was.
Back in the old days before the Wall came down, it was dedicated to anti-armor primarily, but was always ready to schwack enemy personnel.
The “Fist of Gawd” is awesome and something to see up close. It is used quite often to obliterate personnel.
Cheers
Something happened to bring select, not all, rounds under the Army for acquisition. Odd. The USAF wants to buy in accordance to their requirements, and I think this buy is driven by SPecOps, and SpecOps is under a different line item.
The Navy is (was?) the primary procurement agency for A/A missiles. Why? I have no idea but maybe if block-buys reduce cost. Who knows.
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