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The A-10: What a concept
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http://www.apacheclips.com/boa...F-35-Cant-Replace-It

I remember seeing A-10s pop up out of nowhere on training flights in Nevada south of Fallon. Amazing ships!


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
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Posts: 16669 | Location: Las Cruces, NM | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Keesler AFB, In the butt hole of mississippi. there were shanty's with walls lined with newspaper right outside the base.

I was in class there right after basic. A buddy just got his pilots license. we were up over the gulf with a few A-10s flying around.

I don't have pics because I went from boot camp at Lackland right to Keesler (by bus barf )
 
Posts: 6519 | Location: NY, NY | Registered: 28 November 2005Reply With Quote
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thanks for posting that

this ship has had a special place in my world for 4o years

all true


Anyway it matters not, because my experience always has been that of---- a loss of snot and enamel on both sides of the 458 Win----
 
Posts: 1016 | Location: SLC Utah  | Registered: 13 February 2009Reply With Quote
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an A-10 is a crop duster for very large battlefield pests.

It is also an aircraft the Air Force never wanted
and they tried multiple times to cancel it and delete it from inventory.

The USMC actually was investigating if it could be built or rebuilt with folding wings for carrier operations.


If I provoke you into thinking then I've done my good deed for the day!
Those who manage to provoke themselves into other activities have only themselves to blame.

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Posts: 4601 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 21 March 2005Reply With Quote
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The A-10 is a great flying machine, but it is not well suited to the modern battlefield. It was forced onto the USAF because of congressional politics.


John Farner

If you haven't, please join the NRA!
 
Posts: 2946 | Location: Corrales, NM, USA | Registered: 07 February 2001Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
The A-10 is a great flying machine, but it is not well suited to the modern battlefield. It was forced onto the USAF because of congressional politics.


That it is not suited to the modern battlefield is hyperbole that has been used as an argument against it since the idea was still nothing more than a concept scribbled on a napkin with a felt tipped pen.

it has consistently defied the arguments against it for all that time.

The USAF didn't want it because it doesn't fit with their Buck Rogers/Robin Olds fantasies.

It does an important job that anything faster and more glamorous can't do.

the ARMY wanted the aircraft and so the USAF resisted it for that reason.

Congress ended the debate by telling the USAF to take their institutional attitude and cram it.


If I provoke you into thinking then I've done my good deed for the day!
Those who manage to provoke themselves into other activities have only themselves to blame.

*We Band of 45-70er's*

35 year Life Member of the NRA

NRA Life Member since 1984
 
Posts: 4601 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 21 March 2005Reply With Quote
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You big bore guys should be buying them up ! BOOM
Just right with a 30mm which will take out any mastadon, and any of those megasaurus things !
 
Posts: 7636 | Registered: 10 October 2002Reply With Quote
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Close air support is supposed to be one of the
he jobs of the airforce. Close means supporting troops with accurate fire and bombing of the enemy in contact with our troops on the ground. The Marines do it with the Harrier, the Airforce with the A10. The Army uses helicopters. No other aircraft can carry the load, loiter, or absorb battle damage like the A10. For us dirt soldiers it is the best reason for the Airforce to exist. It is a wonderful machine.

Jerry Liles
 
Posts: 531 | Location: Louisiana | Registered: 01 January 2010Reply With Quote
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Concept of a tank killing aircraft, built around a gun always sent shivers up my spine. First trip to Vegas they were still a novelty, got to watch a couple fly off from Nellis. Gotta believe without the depleted uranium projectiles, just another slow ground attack aircraft.

Grizz


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Only one war at a time. Abe Again.
 
Posts: 4211 | Location: Alta. Canada | Registered: 06 November 2002Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Concept of a tank killing aircraft, built around a gun always sent shivers up my spine. First trip to Vegas they were still a novelty, got to watch a couple fly off from Nellis. Gotta believe without the depleted uranium projectiles, just another slow ground attack aircraft.

Grizz


Depleted uranium is just a cheap substitute for tungsten

The Depleted uranium is denser and through the government selling it to themselves is cheaper
than other materials

When I worked for Allied-Signal's Metglass division in the mid 80's the "guys next door" were working on sintered
mixtures of other metals that were harder and less prone to spalling before penetration, and thus
were able to penetrate better under most circumstances

Though without the uranium which is pyroporic most of the rounds using other metals (Denser solid tungsten)
lost their incendiary effect but penetrated better
the fun one was a sintered mixture of Tungsten & Zirconium it had a sustained burn of about 15min.

Somewhere around here I have a PGU-14/B API Armor Piercing Incendiary [DU] projectile
(assembled into a previously fired 30x173mm casing)
which you can find pictured as a complete round HERE:
http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/pgu-14.htm

The GAU-8A cannon can also use conventional HE projectiles as well as HEAT-type rounds

and against targets other than main battle tanks the difference in effectiveness is not material


If I provoke you into thinking then I've done my good deed for the day!
Those who manage to provoke themselves into other activities have only themselves to blame.

*We Band of 45-70er's*

35 year Life Member of the NRA

NRA Life Member since 1984
 
Posts: 4601 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 21 March 2005Reply With Quote
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Mr. De Groot post aroused my curiosity about the 30 mm so among other things I found this blurb which is interesting, at least to me....

quote:
The 30mm Solution
by James Dunnigan
July 15, 2010

The U.S. Army has established a second source (General Dynamics) for 30mm cannon ammunition. This is to insure there are no interruptions in deliveries, and some competition when it comes to production quality and price. The U.S. Army is using over half a million 30mm cannon rounds a year for its AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships. Each round costs over $100.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the most accurate cannon fire comes from the 30mm autocannon on the AH-64 helicopter, and such support is very popular. This is partly because of the increased emphasis on reducing civilian casualties. During the heaviest combat in Iraq (2006-7), about a quarter of the army's 24 AH-64 battalion (18 Apaches each) were in Iraq or Afghanistan. But now these gunships are being shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan. .

The 127 pound M230 30mm cannon fires about ten rounds a second, and AH-64s normally carry 1,200 rounds. The most common round used is the HEDP (high explosive dual purpose), meaning that the round not only penetrates up to 50mm of armor, but generates fragments that kill or wound personnel within four meters (12 feet) of detonation. Each round carries .76 ounces (22 grams) of explosives, is 7.8 inches (20 cm) long and weighs 11.8 ounces (339 grams), while the projectile weighs half a pound (229 grams). A direct hit on a person is fatal, and messy.

Effective range of the 30mm cannon is about 4,000 meters. Time in flight to 3,000 meters is 12 seconds. The fire control system takes care of all the necessary aiming adjustments for long range shots. The Apache also has a red-dot laser indicator for the 30mm cannon. This reduces friendly fire incidents. When in doubt, the AH-64 gunner can flip on the red-dot and ask the guys down below if the right target is about to be hit. The red-dot also has an intimidating effect on the enemy, if you are trying to induce them to surrender or just run away.

The biggest problem has been maintenance. The electronics in the AH-64 are particularly time consuming to keep going. So by adopting high altitude tactics, there is less battle damage, and less stress from the violent maneuvering encountered when flying close to the ground. The Apaches still go low, but only when the occasion demands it. Otherwise, they are more useful up high, using their sensors, which, with the magnification on, can show them individuals carrying weapons down there.

In the next few years, all Apaches will be equipped with communications gear that will allow the real-time exchange of video, and other sensor data. Not just with other Apaches, but with air force warplanes and ground troops. But the sensors are all about finding targets for the highly accurate, and lethal, 30mm cannon.


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Posts: 17099 | Location: Texas USA | Registered: 07 May 2001Reply With Quote
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the 30mm cannon on the apache is an entirely different weapon system.

The General Electric GAU-8A cannon of the A-10 is a far more powerful cannon, with much greater velocity, accuracy, range and rate of fire than the lighter Hughes M230 "Chaingun" cannon of the AH-64 Apache which uses the smaller 30 x 113 mm round


If I provoke you into thinking then I've done my good deed for the day!
Those who manage to provoke themselves into other activities have only themselves to blame.

*We Band of 45-70er's*

35 year Life Member of the NRA

NRA Life Member since 1984
 
Posts: 4601 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 21 March 2005Reply With Quote
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Posts: 13978 | Location: http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/tarawa2.jpg | Registered: 03 December 2008Reply With Quote
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http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.c...loying-to-1640395280

Another chance to show the AF brass that the A-10 really works . dancing
 
Posts: 7636 | Registered: 10 October 2002Reply With Quote
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Sheer genius!


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
 
Posts: 16669 | Location: Las Cruces, NM | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With Quote
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I think for non armor targets 2X or 4X SUU 23 pods would make it a strafer without equal.
 
Posts: 13978 | Location: http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/tarawa2.jpg | Registered: 03 December 2008Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by Allan DeGroot:
quote:
Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
The A-10 is a great flying machine, but it is not well suited to the modern battlefield. It was forced onto the USAF because of congressional politics.


That it is not suited to the modern battlefield is hyperbole that has been used as an argument against it since the idea was still nothing more than a concept scribbled on a napkin with a felt tipped pen.

it has consistently defied the arguments against it for all that time.

The USAF didn't want it because it doesn't fit with their Buck Rogers/Robin Olds fantasies.

It does an important job that anything faster and more glamorous can't do.

the ARMY wanted the aircraft and so the USAF resisted it for that reason.

Congress ended the debate by telling the USAF to take their institutional attitude and cram it.


You talk as though you're an expert on USAF weapon systems. I spent 20 years working on and around all sorts of USAF fighter aircraft, including the A-10. In 1990 at an overseas temporary base I sat in and listened to a very concerned Gen Horner as he expressed his grave concern for the survivability of the A-10, concerns that proved true in the ensuing combat. The A-10 suffered far greater damage and losses when compared to the F-16s which can neutralize armor far more effectively with far less danger to the crew than the A-10. You claim the U.S. Army "wanted" the A-10; can you cite a reference? I doubt it. As I said, the only reason the A-10 was produced was because of congressional politics. In the words of Elmer Kieth, "Hell, I was there." Were you?


John Farner

If you haven't, please join the NRA!
 
Posts: 2946 | Location: Corrales, NM, USA | Registered: 07 February 2001Reply With Quote
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As I recall Gen Horner's son flew the A10 in the first Gulf War.

Well as a dirt soldier I can say an A10 makes me feel a lot better than an F16 that comes and goes and is almost too far away to be seen. The F16 is a wonderful airplane and the men that fly and maintain it are superb, however, for close support from a GI point of view,
it doesn't hold a candle to the A10. Same thing happened during Nam. The fast jets came in blew things up and left. The WWII and Korean War left over Skyraider was the plane that stayed and provided the loiter that was so comforting and helpful to the grunts. Tank plinking isn't the same thing as close support and anyone who flies close support is going to be down where the grunts are and it isn't safe for anyone down there. Just think of the A10 as a flying AFV and a damned good one. We respect the F16 but we love the A10 it's an airplane that just about deserves a CIB.

Jerry Liles

Army wanted the A10? You bet your bippie this Army Doggie did.

Jerry Liles
 
Posts: 531 | Location: Louisiana | Registered: 01 January 2010Reply With Quote
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If the first thing an air force general thinks about is his own men and aircraft, he does not have his mind on the mission or the ground troops he is supposed to protect.
 
Posts: 13978 | Location: http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/tarawa2.jpg | Registered: 03 December 2008Reply With Quote
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Jerry, I'm sure you understand the modern battlefield is much changed from the Vietnam war. Stingers hadn't be invented yet. MPAD devices consisted of SKS and AK rifles. Any Army attack helicopter is a more versatile and survivable platform than an A-10. Sure, attack helicopters can't carry as much punch, but are deployed in far greater numbers.

SR4759, your comment is absolutely correct, but I assure you it doesn't apply to Gen Horner. A finer leader of men will not be found.


John Farner

If you haven't, please join the NRA!
 
Posts: 2946 | Location: Corrales, NM, USA | Registered: 07 February 2001Reply With Quote
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