A-10's For The Marine Corps

[Herc_Dude]

"Fly slow, fly low, get whacked"

Something else to add onto this ... phase two of the upgrade will incorporate a pressurized system, so we have the option to stay high.

Why don't you guys get the DASC-A part working first? That's actually part of USMC doctrine.

DASC-A is something we will not be doing in the J - don't as me why, I know there is some specific reason but it's slipping my mind at this late hour ...

And they have unfortunately, in one instance in Desert Storm when one stayed on station after dawn.

One of the driving factors behind this whole thing has been the Marine Corps need for AF AC-130 support during the day. The AF doesn't do that ... so now we are going to ... in broad daylight ... should be fun

Lets see... Marine C-130s in CP, or Marine FA-18 in Miramar... Tough choice.

Or you could fly KC-130s and fly out of Miramar ... it was an easy choice for me. (SemperGumbi was already on top of that...)

 

[Clux4]

The problem is that we're not always going to be in Iraq. There are realistic scenarios out there where an A-10 won't be able to compete in and survive.

Kind of like getting Favre as your new quarterback.

Just curious, do you mind throwing a few out there.
I know we cannot have a platform for every situation we think we might find ourselves. But the possibilities of some are more than others.

 

[skidkid]

Skid,

The best CAS I ever worked was USAF ANG from Indiana, F-16's at that. They were awesome.

I agree completely Navy/MC Air will bust a cap. You can hear it in their check-in, they want to bomb someone... God bless them

No doubt.

I cant speak to the fratricide incidences, I'll take my lumps and keep the hammer coming. It's combat, so long as we're moving forward, Im a happy pedestrian.

Z

Fratricide will always be out there but it doesnt mean we have to accept it. I would say that Falujah with thousands of tons of ordnance dropped in a 9 mile square urban setting with thousands of Marines running around and zero air to ground blue on blue illustrates that it is possible to neck down the fratricide to almost zero if everyone is on their A game.

 

[raptor10]

I think (but I'm not in the know) that EADSIM has predicted bad things a comin' wrt the fielding of S-300 and most especially S-400 SA systems. The future requires us to invest in l-o and EA technologies in order to survive in the SH IAD that some of our potential adversaries are furiously trying to put together.

^All conjecture.

 

[Uncle Fester]

DASC(A) has been co-opted by the Hawkeye house, as a way to give us something to do in OIF. Whether that actually factored into the Marines' decision, I couldn't tell you, but when cash is tight, why spend the money to do what's already being done by another platform? On the Navy's dime, no less?

All I know is, DASC(A) went from something we don't do to a major mission area (even train CAT 1 studs in the RAG to do it now) in just a couple of years.

Back to the Hog - there was a proposal floated for a two-seat OA-10 a few years back. Never got past the artist-concept stage, AFAIK. The OA-10 that's out there now is different.

The A-10 could be one of the great CAS platforms of all time, if the AF would just invest the money in sensors, datalinks and aircrew training. But the mighty Hog is the AF's crazy aunt in the attic, always has been, always will be, and when they're laying off people in order to fund the F-22, I can't see them ever re-investing in the A-10.

We'll see if the A-10C lives up to the AF's promises, but seeing as it's supposed to be around for another 20-odd years, let's hope it does.

 

[Swanee]

Back to the Hog - there was a proposal floated for a two-seat OA-10 a few years back. Never got past the artist-concept stage, AFAIK. The OA-10 that's out there now is different.

2 were built, one crashed, the other is sitting at Edwards.

The AF has tried to full on get rid of the Hog twice now. Once with the F/A-16 (Look it up, my old man was with the unit that tested it) in the late 80s, that program flat out failed, and another time in the mid 90s.

The A-10 is going to be around for a while. Even if it leaves the Active Duty AF, the Guard is going to fly them until they fall apart, then they will rebuild them and fly them some more.

 

[Blutonski816]

2 The AF has tried to full on get rid of the Hog twice now. Once with the F/A-16 (Look it up, my old man was with the unit that tested it) in the late 80s, that program flat out failed, and another time in the mid 90s.

The story behind that is almost comical...
from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-13_cannon

The GPU-5 pod, however, proved unsatisfactory in service. It was briefly tried on some Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcons during the 1991 Gulf War, but was removed from service after barely a day of combat use because of its very poor accuracy. Despite the cannon's impressive ballistic characteristics, the pylon mounting was not sufficiently rigid to prevent deflection, and the weapon's heavy recoil exacerbated the problem by causing pylon misalignment.

 

[Stearmann4]

Don't you mean Osama?

Pure semantics...

 

[Stearmann4]

The OA-10 that's out there now is different. QUOTE]


The current OA-10 is actually a mission designation, vice an aircraft model.

 

[Zissou]

Pure semantics...

Continue......


F-15's do blow. They make alot of scary noises though.

 

[Harrier Dude]

Continue......


F-15's do blow. They make alot of scary noises though.

F-15Es can carry an ass ton of ordnance, lots of gas, and employ JDAM with relative targeting. Good piece of gear.

If they have an employment problem in terms of CAS, it's probably a training problem, not a capabilities one.

Like many others, perhaps they should spend more time in the A/G master mode.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I don't speak as an expert, but the -15E guys I've talked to seem to view their "real" mission as more deep-interdiction than CAS. I think a lot of Vark guys went over to the Dark Gray side, which may account for that attitude.

I speak under correction, though. Do we have any Mud hen guys on here?

 

[Clux4]

Like many others, perhaps they should spend more time in the A/G master mode.

They cannot afford to loose one of those.

 

[Harrier Dude]

I don't speak as an expert, but the -15E guys I've talked to seem to view their "real" mission as more deep-interdiction than CAS. I think a lot of Vark guys went over to the Dark Gray side, which may account for that attitude.

I speak under correction, though. Do we have any Mud hen guys on here?

Expecting HackerF15E at any time to defend his honor.

 

[Harrier Dude]

They cannot afford to loose one of those.

What the hell does that mean?