"Boeing Wants To Sell The U.S. Air Force's Fleet Of A-10s " Topic

…To Allies Abroad.

"As the U.S. Air Force pushes to retire its fleet of A-10 attack aircraft, Boeing Co. doesn't want the planes to waste away in the Arizona bone yard – it wants to sell them abroad.

The Chicago-based aerospace giant has begun discussions with the service about potentially selling the Cold War-era gunship known as the Warthog to U.S. allies, according to Chris Raymond, a vice president at the company.

"There's been talk about what the international opportunities might be," he said on Tuesday at the Paris Air Show, held at the historic Le Bourget airfield outside the city. "We're going to stay close to the U.S. Air Force in this case. They have to make some decisions about what they actually have that they're willing to declare as excess defense articles and so it's really not our place to speculate on that."…"
full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Maybe ISIL needs them? We could sell them to our Iraqi consignment dealers.

Yea, good idea.

Give/sell them to the Iraqis so that ISIS/AQ will get them, and they can be used against us.

Brilliant plan, if you're playing for the other side!

As I've said before, American executives will do anything to make a buck, even if that means selling our enemies the bullets to be used against us, in order to earn that quarterly bonus.

Looks like I'm right on target.

As USMC General Smedley Butler used to say in the 1920's and 1930's, "War is a racket!". Welcome to the world of post-national, corporate capitalism; where profits trump human lives still. The only difference is now the lives are American instead of Chinese, Haitian, Nicaraguan, etc. The machine must be fed! The Spice must flow!
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson.

Seeing as how the 'bad guys' are limited to trucks as an example of high-tech, I imagine that airplanes would be beyond their capability.

How is Boeing involved in this? Did they acquire the rights to that aircraft, because I thought it belonged to Republic Fairchild? That sounds as odd to me as if Ford announced it wanted to sell hummers to the Chinese.

I'm with you Rod. Read it last summer.

Fairchild Republic is long gone. I think Boeing acquired the rights and produces spares for the aircraft.

Damon.

It really is all about the spice isn't it.

I'm sure congress will see it as a creative way to cancel the A-10 and block any attempts to sell them. The popular (except to the USAF) Warthog is proving to be as unkillable as the F-35 boondoggle.

Sell them to Poland. Done.

There are so many "Allied" who would be happy with them … and not from the East!. (smile).

Amicalement
Armand

The key question is, which countries could get the most use out of the A-10 right now.

I agree with OW that Poland would like them, but if the Ukraine thing expands to a high-intensity war with Russia, Poland will have a hard time getting air superiority alone or even as a NATO member.

What other countries could most effectively use them now?

The Iraqi Air Farce? They fly Su-25's.

"Seeing as how the 'bad guys' are limited to trucks as an example of high-tech, I imagine that airplanes would be beyond their capability".

Actually, no.

They operate Russian-built tanks and APCs/IFVs, as well as SP guns. They've also captured 42 of our M-1 tanks, and 52 of our M-109 Palladins in Iraq (not to mention the 2,300 Humvees lost from just a single city – can't really call it a battle, since the Iraqis exited all the equipment and ran away).

Also, they have some ex-pilots, so no doubt some groundcrew personnel too.

We destroyed a few captured Syrian/ISIS/AQ Migs in Syria a while back, and the jihadis in Libya have an air force too.

A lot of the ISIS guys are supposedly Saddam's ex-military personnel, so are well trained in strategy and battle, as we've seen by their successes all throughout the region.

Texas might like a few A-10s, since the Mexicans are shooting at our Border Patrol helos.

Having a Warthog or four might discourage that practice a bit.

I would love for Texas to get a few of these what a statement that would be. Need them to fight off Jade Helm.

Chuck Norris Texan Ranger in an A-10 in Jade Helm…. ;-p

I'd still like to see the USMC get them. Barring that Israel.

USMC doesn't want them because they're not carrier compatible and can't be modified into a carrier-compatible form.