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A-10 Being Retired Due To Lack Of Funding


manayunkman
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Garandomatic

Thing is, is there a replacement? Kind of reminiscent of the long life of the A-26 and AD-1. They'd do away with them, but another darned war would need some kind of heavily-armed, lumbering platform of death, and they'd be back, at least until the parts totally ran out.

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Heard this before, several times. The Army even wanted to take over the warthogs at one point but the blue suiters went nuts at the thought of that.

I'll believe it when the last one(s) pull into the boneyard, and maybe not even then...

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SergeantMajorGray

Out of all the ways they could cut the budget they have to get rid of something useful we'll see how this works out when were fighting somebody with tanks.

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teufelhunde.ret

I'll believe it when I see it. This gunship has widespread congressional support in AirForce and Army congressional districts. The F35 cannot replace every AC in the inventory, they are simply too expensive and vulnerable for this role!

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manayunkman

In Central Pa. many times you would see flights of A-10 fly over the house.

 

Every time I heard one out the house I went.

 

They would use 81 and 78 as their flight path.

 

The most I ever saw at one time was 6.

 

No mistaking the noise they make.

 

Here is what happened just a few hours ago according to Reuters.

 

Can I cut and paste this ?

 

The link:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/10/us-usa-defense-warthog-idUSKBN0EL1T920140610

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In Central Pa. many times you would see flights of A-10 fly over the house.

 

Every time I heard one out the house I went.

 

They would use 81 and 78 as their flight path.

 

The most I ever saw at one time was 6.

 

No mistaking the noise they make.

 

Here is what happened just a few hours ago according to Reuters.

 

Can I cut and paste this ?

 

The link:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/10/us-usa-defense-warthog-idUSKBN0EL1T920140610

 

That story says:

 

"The U.S. Air Force says money saved by cutting the Warthog would be used to bolster readiness, which has slipped in recent years because of budget cuts, and focus on priorities for the future, such as the radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a new aerial refueling tanker and a new long-range bomber."

 

I think there's an issue here where the Air Force is trying to restore some glory as an aerial fighting force. Nowadays it seems as though if you need fighter/bomber jets in a hurry they deploy from aircraft carriers. Our once vast network of worldwide land bases keeps shrinking, so the carrier-based force has become even more important.

 

I was always amazed to see those stories about Air Force bombers flying from Missouri or some such place to drop bombs on the other side of the Atlantic - when you have to operate that way, I can see why a shiny new F-35 and "a new aerial refueling tanker and a new long-range bomber" are higher on your priority list than an ugly A-10 that's older than it's pilots.

 

I am a child of the 1950's Jet Age and grew up in a Navy family but was in Civil Air Patrol and later the USAF and until I had to start wearing glasses it was my goal to be an Air Force pilot (you needed uncorrected vision then to fly). The Air Force was the hotshot service of that time and between B-52's and fleets of fighters they were going to win all the wars without need for ground troops.

 

I think the Air Force is now grasping for something to enhance its image beyond the current one as operator of heavy airtlift, drones and A-10's (and the morale-busting Cold War leftovers of their ICBM program). Certainly the USAF leadership does not seem too happy doing Pappy Boyington's old job of providing close air support to Marines on the ground.

 

I twice worked projects for the BRAC base relocation/closing process which attempted to have panels independent of Congress and military decide which bases should be closed. The process wasn't totally isolated from outside influence, but it did better than Congress or the various branches would acting on their own. Perhaps we need a BRAC-type program that could evaluate missions and weapons systems and decide who should do what.

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As a kid I grew up a few miles from Grissom AFB in north central Indiana. Countless times A-10s would fly over our house so low that it seemed as though you could reach up and touch them. My junior year in high school one crashed several miles from my house killing the pilot.

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Manchu Warrior

The 104th Fighter Squadron is always flying over my house in their A-10's. They will be missed.

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A great platform for close support.

A really cool thing about them....you can watch them make a gun run on target, see smoke from the firing, then see rounds impact and seconds later you finally hear the sound. I don't see anything out there they can replace it with so hope they aren't able to do it.

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For CAS, I sure as heck would want a blue suiter in the cockpit with good situational awareness with his pair of MKI eyeballs...

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manayunkman

Having a platform not easy to shoot down with one heck of a weapons choice that loves to loiter.

 

Un-maned would be a bonus if you can secure it.

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vostoktrading

It's a big mistake to get rid of the A-10.

Put simply it will cost the lives of some of our combat troops not to have this plane around and have to depend on a multirole aircraft.

Why does our establishment always repeat the mistakes of the past?

Jon.

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The AF always hated the A-10. The claim now is that other aircraft can do it's job (CAS) like the F-15E, F-16s, B-1s, etc. Those aircraft can also do other types of missions, and the A-10, in their eyes is 'one dimensional'.

 

It's replacement is the F-35, whenever that finally is cleared opertional (what maybe 6-8 years?? and that's probably being too generous).

 

I was lucky enough to do photography/media work with the 103rd FS/111th FW PA ANG out of my hometown during the last several years before they lost their A-10s due to BRAC in 2011. They are remarkable airplanes, that everyone agreed were easy to maintanance and fly. Nothing, will ever every come close to replacing it. And it blows my mind in today's warfare that we are losing this airframe. Another example of people in high places making decisions that just make no sense that hurt them people in low places dealing with it.

 

Tell me what plane could do what is described in this article, which is only several months old...of 104th FS (MD ANG) pilots who earned the DFC for their actions saving soldiers on the ground during some bad weather, flying low and slow using their 30mm gun to ward off the enemy troops.

http://www.175wg.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123373396

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Another example of people in high places making decisions that just make no sense that hurt them people in low places dealing with it.

 

It's not sexy enough - the Air Force is looking for something new to defeat MIGs in dogfights :)

 

There's that old line about "Generals are always prepared to fight the last war" and for some that's still Vietnam and the Cold War, where the enemy had fighter jets.

 

If the Taliban and Al-Qaeda had jet fighters it might be a different story, but as they proved against the Soviets and later the US, long-range bombers and fighter bombers don't affect them any more than they did the VC hiding in tunnels along the Ho Chi Minh trial.

 

The A-10 works in nitty-gritty guerilla warfare and it can be deployed quicker and in much rougher conditions than fancier new aircraft.

 

Iraq might - hopefully - represent the last time for a long time that US forces face an opponent with fighters and tanks. As we see in Iraq right now, fired-up warriors with RPG's and AK-47's - boots on the ground - still seem to be the best weapons system around. Thank goodness those guys don't have A-10's to back them up!

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17thairborne

Let me rant please!

 

1. A very sad testament to what's wrong with the senior leadership system in the military. Spent 4500 hours drivin' Hawgs and I can tell you it is one hell of a CAS platform. Having done CAS from the Army perspective with the 11th ACR, and then with the AF in an A-10, I know the sentiments in the air and on the ground. No one was ever attacked on the ground when we were overhead in an A-10. The dorkheads in man-dresses knew better.

 

2. The brass that says they can do it with some other platform are full of shyte! They started with the F-16, then the F-15E and B-1 now its the F-35. All too fast, no loiter time and ridden by those with a fighter only mentality. They do not understand that every event (except nuke delivery) in the AF is support for the grunt who seizes and holds terrain!!! Analyze the news of a recent fratricide by a B-1 doing CAS (Laughable that they call it CAS, and sad that it ended in tragedy).

 

3. Watch the post-military job trail from the brass who are running the show now and in a few years and you will see where most of them get their jobs; working for the military industrial complex, or lobbying with other scum-bags within the beltway.

 

4. The Army Brass is complaisant too, because they had their sacred cows to guild. They turned a blind eye to the AF scheme of getting rid of the Hawg. The grunts are now on their own, having to rely on Army Airpower. Thankfully those guys know what they are doing and understand what their mission is. They could give a hoot less about image and status, they just want to be where the heat is protecting the brotherhood with cannon, 2.75" and hellfire. Good on you guys!

 

Okay....I'm done now....you can turn the flame on me, but I had to reply.....sorry to rant :dry:

 

post-15065-0-07838200-1402686137.jpg

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