SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The US Air Force has kicked off the procurement for another round of wing replacements for A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, known affectionately by many as the Warthog. With new wings, the A-10s will help fill a gap left by the delayed volume delivery of F-35A fighters, which were intended to take over the A-10's close air support (CAS) role in "contested environments"—places where enemy aircraft or modern air defenses would pose a threat to supporting aircraft. For now, the A-10 is being used largely in uncontested environments, where the greatest danger pilots face is small arms fire or possibly a Stinger-like man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) missile. But the Warthog is also being deployed to Eastern Europe as part of the NATO show of strength in response to Russia.
While the A-10 will keep flying through 2025 under current plans, Air Force leadership has perceived (or was perhaps convinced to see) a need for an aircraft that could take over the A-10's role in low-intensity and uncontested environments—something relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain that could be flown from relatively unimproved airfields to conduct armed reconnaissance, interdiction, and close air support missions. The replacement would also double as advanced trainer aircraft for performing weapons qualifications and keeping pilots' flight-time numbers up.
So, last year the Air Force kicked off the Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a four-aircraft competition to determine what would best fit that bill.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Spook brat on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:47PM (3 children)
Oh, no; Air Force brass hates it too.
It doesn't fit their idea of a "sexy" airframe, and they didn't want to buy it in the first place. [dtic.mil] Close air support is a mission that the Air Force doesn't want to do right, and won't let the Army do for itself.
On top of all that, since the Air Force is doubling down on the F-35 they're using the cost overruns in that project to justify mothballing the A-10 in the name of saving money; Congress has already called Bravo Sierra on that. [jqpublicblog.com]
So far, the Air Force has been caught and called out on inappropriately suppressing positive media reports on the A-10, [jqpublicblog.com] as well as asserting that testifying truthfully to Congress is treason [military.com] (a general got fired over that one).
I expect that this charade will go on pretty much forever. The Army will always need Close Air Support, the Air Force may never want to actually do it right, and as long as there are members of congress who have served in the Army the A-10 will keep performing that mission until something legitimately better comes along.
PS - looking forward to the CAS head-to-head between the A-10 and the F-35, [military.com] if it ever happens. The Air Force is already spinning; they know the F-35 is going to lose, and so they're again trotting out long-debunked claims [jalopnik.com] that the A-10 isn't survivable in the modern battlespace. Good luck, flyboys, you'll need it.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday June 21 2018, @08:41AM (2 children)
So let me get this right. The USAF refuses to buy what's needed, and won't fly the CAS missions needed. Meanwhile the US Navy no longer knows how to navigate and steer on water. It makes me wonder, what's the US army up to?
I'd make fun of it all, except we're on the buyers list of F35s too, and have been known to fly the swastika while on mission. *sigh*
(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Thursday June 21 2018, @01:51PM (1 child)
Yeah, that's about right. Army has its own set of issues, as JoeMerchant pointed out. [soylentnews.org] [1] You should read the stories about how top Brass in the Army tried to block adoption of the M-16 and the resulting problems with the early models.
We just use the acronym SNAFU liberally, and drive on :P
[1] For those not willing to watch a 2-hour Cary Elwes movie, a) shame on you; b) early versions of the Bradley troop transport/fighting vehicle used aluminum armor which burned to produce toxic gas when hit with an anti-armor round, helpfully poisoning any occupants who weren't killed by the round itself.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Friday June 22 2018, @02:33AM
That aluminium armor sounds about as clever as the design-by-committee light & agile troop transport down here which ended up with so much armor and redundancy that it was neither light nor agile and thus not suited to any of the operating theaters it was supposedly targeted at. Don't know if it ended up actually delivered or not, but there was enough of a stink to make the news down here.