AF Says, “A-10 to stay 'indefinitely'”

[longknife]

Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski recently told AviationWeek that the depot line that maintains and repairs the Air Force's 283 A-10s has been reopened to full capacity.

“They have re-geared up, we’ve turned on the depot line, we’re building it back up in capacity and supply chain,” said Pawlikowski. “Our command, anyway, is approaching this as another airplane that we are sustaining indefinitely.”

More @ The US Air Force has embraced reality — the A-10 is here to stay ‘indefinitely'

 

[ThunderKiss1965]

Most of the Infantry guys I've heard from are applauding this decision.

 

[Borillar]

A wise choice. There is no better close in ground support aircraft in our arsenal.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Close Air Support isn't the reason. The real reason is what it's job was in the first place and it's damned good at it. It's an Armor and Tank Buster. You will notice that it's been forward based in the old Soviet Union Countries. The life it leads there is many times more harsh than in Iraq or Syria. It has to be at the top of it's game. Therefore, it's emperitive that it's 100% and most A-10s are NOT 100% at this time. With Russia flexing it's military muscle in the Kraines, the A-10 has to get up to speed.

It has nothing to do with it flying CAS.

 

[ThunderKiss1965]

Close Air Support isn't the reason. The real reason is what it's job was in the first place and it's damned good at it. It's an Armor and Tank Buster. You will notice that it's been forward based in the old Soviet Union Countries. The life it leads there is many times more harsh than in Iraq or Syria. It has to be at the top of it's game. Therefore, it's emperitive that it's 100% and most A-10s are NOT 100% at this time. With Russia flexing it's military muscle in the Kraines, the A-10 has to get up to speed.

It has nothing to do with it flying CAS.

Close air support my not be its main job , but the A-10 does a damn fine job of it. Just ask any ground-pounder who ass the plane saved.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

-

Close Air Support isn't the reason. The real reason is what it's job was in the first place and it's damned good at it. It's an Armor and Tank Buster. You will notice that it's been forward based in the old Soviet Union Countries. The life it leads there is many times more harsh than in Iraq or Syria. It has to be at the top of it's game. Therefore, it's emperitive that it's 100% and most A-10s are NOT 100% at this time. With Russia flexing it's military muscle in the Kraines, the A-10 has to get up to speed.

It has nothing to do with it flying CAS.

Close air support my not be its main job , but the A-10 does a damn fine job of it. Just ask any ground-pounder who ass the plane saved.

The A-10 is actually about 3rd or 4th choice for CAS. First choice is the AC-130 who has the loiter time of 4 hours or more and is up above any ground fire. ICUUCMe comes to mind. If the weather is good enough for an A-10 then the AC can do it as well. Degrade the weather where the A-10 can't operate, the AC can still operate. The one time it couldn't, they flew in a F-15E flying nap of the earth and took out the bad guys. The A-10 is a fair weather day bird for CAS.

The original intent was for it to be an Armor Buster (hence the 30mm Vulcan). It excels in that mission against heavy armor and tanks. The other mission it excels at is Sandy where it loiters around, takes shots when it can but says, shoot me, not the rescue choppers. The old A-1E mission. There is nothing in the inventory at this time that can do those two jobs as well.

But there are tons of birds that can safely do CAS. This has become a myth.

They are looking for a bird to take over that role. My choice is the old (update it) OV-10D+. It's faster, higher flying and carries the same targeting equipment as the A-10. The Marines used it for a bit for CAS and it was a total success. It flies low and slow if you need it to or it can pick it up and attack that way. But, like the A-10, it's underpowered and has trouble getting out of dodge right after the attack. ICUUCMe comes into play. The good news is, there are hotter engines for both the OV-10 and A-10. The A-10 should get them in the Depot Level Maintance while the OV-10 (if chosen) can be in production in about 6 months.

What is the limiting factor of the A-10? Range. At 281 mile range for the CAS and 250 miles for the Heavy Anti Armor, you have to be pretty close to the action. These two figures also include just over an hour loiter time. But that loiter times goes out the window when it goes into combat mode of no more than 15 minutes. The problem is with that range is that some of the SS weapons can easily reach the A-10 staging area. To somewhat get around his is to load light in both weapons and put on extra fuel. You get one shot at the target unless there is a tanker running around. If there is room for a tanker, just send in the AC which can do the job with over 4 hours loiter time and not have to go light on the ammo.

NO matter what the myth is, we aren't hurting for a CAS platform. We ARE hurting for an observation (this is quickly becoming not the case with the F-22/F-35 in the area) and Sandy.

As for Anti ARmor, there are only 278 A-10s left including the flying dead. This has got to the hairiest mission of them all. Tanks fire back. I doubt if there will be very many actually return home going after the T-90 and above Russian Tanks and heavy armor. Not to mention the S-300 sites or the various Infantry SA weapons in the Russians inventory. ICUUCMe.

I mentioned Sandy. When a crew goes down, EVERYTHING becomes sandy. The last to leave will be the OA-10. But it's also the last fixed wing to get there. LIke the A-1E, the OV-10 will sacrifice his own AC to protect the downed crew. Sacrifice 5 to get one comes to mind. This is a mission that they are working very hard to get the OA-10 off of. The problem is, there is nothing in the inventory that can do the job. Hence the need for the A-29, A-6 or OV-10D+. If the A-10 can hit the bad guy, so can the A-6 or the OV-10D+ since they share the same avionics.

It's a Myth that the A-10 is the best CAS. IT IS the best Sandy. This is where we need to get something in the inventory to replace the OA-10. Once that is done, the A-10 will slowly wear out and have to be replaced. It's NOT going to go back into production. Never going to happen.

 

[Spare_change]

Having had the opportunity to sit in the titanium pod, as well as in a foxhole when one arrives .. I don't give a damn if it's primary mission is to make ice cream cones.

That is one tough SOB, and I'll take it over the C-130 gunship any time for close-in air support. The C-130 is, shall we say, less specific about where it puts ordinance. The A-10 can take out the enemy at the gate, and light your cigarette, all at the same time.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Having had the opportunity to sit in the titanium pod, as well as in a foxhole when one arrives .. I don't give a damn if it's primary mission is to make ice cream cones.

That is one tough SOB, and I'll take it over the C-130 gunship any time for close-in air support. The C-130 is, shall we say, less specific about where it puts ordinance. The A-10 can take out the enemy at the gate, and light your cigarette, all at the same time.

Less specific? It reads your damned nametag. We used to kid that it could tell what brand of cigarettes you smoked when Smoking was in. It will place the 30mm within 1 foot of dead center. It also will be tracking the good guys not only the bad guys at the same time. The last time the AC did blue on blue or green on green was because it was flying with severely degraded systems and the human factor made a series of mistakes. I doubt if that will ever happen again in my lifetime. The real difference is, the A-10 operates on the ICUUCMe doctrine. With the SA should fired weapons that are available to the bad guys, this is not where one wants to be. This is why you don't hear about the A-10 doing it very much anymore. It will if push comes to shove but there are better and safer ways. And who the hell cares what a grunt thinks as long as the job gets done. You are operating on a Myth.

 

[anotherlife]

The A-10 seems a nice plane. Which contractors does Ellen Pawlikowski take kickback money from?

 

[Daryl Hunt]

The A-10 seems a nice plane. Which contractors does Ellen Pawlikowski take kickback money from?

Good question. BTW, most of the parts for the Depot Level for the A-10 will be manufactured or assembled in Arizona. hint, hint......