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Pentagon To Scrap Warplane The Islamic State Fears
Investor's Business Daily ^ | January 26, 2016 | IBD EDITORIALS

Posted on 01/26/2015 10:13:33 AM PST by raptor22

Defense Spending: The venerable A-10 Warthog, designed to stop Soviet tanks, and the perfect weapon to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State, as President Obama promised, faces a budgetary chopping block.

We have noted the irony of how Obama was going to war against the Islamic State with weapons systems he had scrapped, ending the production runs of the F-22 Raptor and Tomahawk cruise missiles. They were dismissed by the administration as relics of the Cold War even as Russia was rearming and trying to reassemble the old Soviet Union.

We've also mentioned the phasing out of the A-10 Thunderbolt, a close-support aircraft that entered service in 1972 and was designed to combat Soviet tank formations on a European battlefield.

Dubbed the "Warthog" because of its decidedly un-sleek profile, the A-10 has been found to be useful in another capacity in Iraq — attacking IS forces that don't want to be on the business end of the Warthog's 30 mm

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: a10; a10thunderbolt; a10warthog; airforce; defense; disarmament; ibd; ibdenergy; isil; isis; military; nationaldefense; obamalateral; pentagon; usaf; warthog; wildboar; wot
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To: Don_Ret_USAF

“Heads will spin on that!”

And the Armys. . .support and logistic supply-train and basing requirements would not be feasable.


41 posted on 01/26/2015 1:26:12 PM PST by Hulka
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To: Hulka
Just a note, Hog pilots are very pro-American and anti-obama. There is no way any Hog pilot would ever make a run on American citizens if the “winds shift in an ugly direction.”

If obama ever made that treasonous call, all that would be flying that jet, and rather poorly I might add, would be the butt-kissing generals.

And the maintenance guys would never service a Hog to be used against American citizens.


No disrespect intended towards those who serve. But looking at what Obama's been able to accomplish in the military in a few short years - I've read plenty of accounts of FReepers recommending young men and women not enlist - it wouldn't take too long to purge the ranks. Consider an Elizabeth Warren presidency building on what Obama has accomplished. The character of our military could sadly change quickly.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction"
42 posted on 01/26/2015 1:42:04 PM PST by chrisser (Silly Wabbit. Trix are for kids. And Cheetos are for Rinos.)
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To: MrB

And not really effective when there’s........NAIL GUNS!!!!!!


43 posted on 01/26/2015 1:46:32 PM PST by rktman (Served in the Navy to protect the rights of those that want to take some of mine away. Odd, eh?)
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To: NTHockey
If the Air Force is willing to spend some money to scrap the A-10, I’m sure the Marines will be more than glad to take them off the Air Forces’ hands.

Yep, spread the Warthogs around to the VMA squadrons for "evaluation purposes".

44 posted on 01/26/2015 1:55:53 PM PST by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: sean327
"The A-10 is being scrapped because the Air Force hates the CAS mission."

S327...

I saw a blurb on Yahoo today of 5 programs we should axe. Oh it made by blood boil, included in that was the UCAS aka the X-47B. When you look back on what the Navy Did, they canned the A6, cancelled the A-12 ( dumb mistake ) and now we have nothing to go down-town with, and no I am not fond of the F-18E/F.

However, a robust, folding wing follow on that could take the place of the A-10 and the A-6 might get the 2 birds with one stone. And yes I get that trying to do multiple branches common platform usually doesn't work. This time I think it might. I have some ideas as to the config, but that is not for here....

45 posted on 01/26/2015 1:57:21 PM PST by taildragger (It's Cruz, Pence or Walker, anything else is a Yugo with Racing Stripes....)
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To: Grampa Dave; granite; GreenFreeper; grjr21; I got the rope; IchBinEinBerliner; jaredt112; JayB; ...

WAR ON TERROR PING


46 posted on 01/26/2015 2:05:56 PM PST by raptor22 (Follow me on Twitter @gerfingerpoken or facebook.com/danielsobieski)
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To: raptor22

- Revoke the law that prohibits the Army from operating fixed-wing aircraft. Then give the ‘Hog to them.
- Update the electronics. One of the big problems (yes; it does have a couple) is the counter-measures systems are all 70s-80s technology. Harder for them to survive with all of the advances being made in even the smallest surface-to-air missile systems. Sure, the ‘Hog can take hits, but why invite trouble? Not that this will be a problem; just look at the B-52!!


47 posted on 01/26/2015 3:13:13 PM PST by Kodos the Executioner (.. the revolution is successful, but survival depends upon drastic measures..")
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To: GOPJ
Just fewer weapons for the US government to use to eventually subjugate the American people. It's probably a good idea that they are being decommissioned.

One heck of a fine weapon system, though! :O

48 posted on 01/26/2015 3:29:49 PM PST by The Duke
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To: Still Thinking; StopGlobalWhining; Straight Vermonter; Tampa Caver; TChris; ...

WAR ON TERROR PING


49 posted on 01/26/2015 3:31:54 PM PST by raptor22 (Follow me on Twitter @gerfingerpoken or facebook.com/danielsobieski)
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To: T. Rustin Noone

Congress needs to bring back manufacturing to America, to bring back American jobs, to decrease our national spending, and decrease our debt.

Everything we are doing now, is bad for America.

We now are 18 trillion (actually now 18.1 trillion) in debt.

Yet this year, we will set YET ANOTHER TRADE DEFICIT RECORD with a closed, communist nation.

And nobody is doing one darned thing, to bring back any American jobs.

Nobody.


50 posted on 01/26/2015 4:10:12 PM PST by Cringing Negativism Network (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html)
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To: T. Rustin Noone

There is no continued production. One of the first things cut under Clinton was the A-10 production line - and the Congress added in that the tooling had to be destroyed.

We haven’t had a new A-10 built since 1993.


51 posted on 01/27/2015 1:32:38 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: raptor22

What is the future of the AC-130 gunship?

Was that deployed at all in Iraq or Afghanistan?


52 posted on 01/27/2015 1:50:24 AM PST by zeestephen
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To: Spktyr
I believe the last A-10 was built in mid-1980’s, possibly 1984/85. . .

Many upgrades since to it electronics, avionics and re-wing.

53 posted on 01/27/2015 5:34:47 AM PST by Hulka
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To: Hulka

Correct, but the line and tooling had been mothballed after that and maintained at small government expense, so the plane could be put back in production in case of a war, as it was relatively simple to make and it was expected to take heavy casualties in an all out war with the Soviets. The Congress had it destroyed as part of the so-called ‘peace dividend’ and after 1993 there was not even a possibility of new ones.


54 posted on 01/27/2015 9:08:20 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

Well, some tooling does exist, since the A-10 fleet has been getting new wings (effectively zero-timing the airframe). Apart from that, there are plenty in storage out at AMARG/Davis-Monthan to act as a reserve for far more attrition than can be expected over the next 20-30 years.

The 1990s tooling destruction that was really painful was the F-14. That was Dick Cheney using the Tomcat as a political weapon in a spat he had with the NY Congressional delegation, which kept getting more and more Bs and Ds added back into the budget.


55 posted on 01/27/2015 9:19:03 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: tanknetter

Actually, Boeing had to start from scratch to build those new wings. Yes, there is now tooling for the wing, but nothing else.


56 posted on 01/27/2015 10:35:21 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

Boeing is pretty good at reverse-engineering and recreating old airplane parts.

A couple years back they produced a brand new main wing spar for one of the restored and flying B-17s. CAF’s “Texas Raiders” I think. I think 15-20 years ago that would have been prohibitively expensive, but Boeing took laser measurements of an existing, borrowed spar (or maybe it was just the old engineering diagrams) rendered the new one using CAD and set one of their big milling machines to the task. Still expensive, but also within the levels of acceptable cost to keep an old warbird in the air.


57 posted on 01/27/2015 11:28:25 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: Spktyr
Not sure that was correct.

The USG ‘owned’ the tooling but not the building, and as per usual with other aircraft buys, post-production means no production of the jet. . .but a stock of replacement parts are produced at a low rate of production for a limited run. Can't just shut down production of pieces parts once the last jet rolls off the line because you will need spare parts. . .until some of those jets end up at AMARC.

In 1992 the first A-10s arrived at D-M AMRAC for storage so no need to manufacture spare parts. . .A-10’s in the ‘boneyard’ would now provide parts.

So, the final assembly line was dismantled and Fairchild owned the building so there was no ‘plan’ to re-tool in case of a war. . .not enough time to re-open the line, bring back the guys on the line, locate second the third-tier suppliers. Heck some parts can take years to procure. . .like titanium . .it can take up to 2-yrs to acquire.

If the commie hoards came across the line we would not have enough time nor people nor hardware to crank it back up.

58 posted on 01/28/2015 6:27:14 AM PST by Hulka
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To: NFHale

Ping


59 posted on 01/28/2015 10:50:44 AM PST by Impy (They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
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