"Who Will Replace the A-10 Warthog? Textron Has " Topic
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27 May 2017 6:36 p.m. PST by Editor in Chief Bill
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Tango01 | 22 May 2017 2:47 p.m. PST |
…a 2-in-3 Chance. "Textron's secret weapon: The only jet fighter in this competition. Few aircraft in the U.S. Air Force's arsenal attract as much support as the A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog. In a fit of martial poetry, Mother Jones describes the A-10 as "an unstoppable commercial Learjet with a full-automatic cannon in its nose and an iron bathtub surrounding the cockpit." More laconic, Foxtrotalpha simply states that the A-10 is "the best CAS [close air support] platform mankind has ever designed." Good as the A-10 is, however, even its supporters acknowledge that it must one day be retired. In anticipation of that day, the Air Force has been spooling up a "capability assessment" preparatory to acquiring a new ground attack aircraft that could, possibly, fit the bill. It's call the OA-X competition, and one year after it was announced, OA-X could finally be entering its final innings…"
Main page link Amicalement Armand
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Lion in the Stars | 22 May 2017 8:20 p.m. PST |
The original AX competition that lead to the A10 could basically be summed up as, make this gun fly:
Given the safety standoff range for the 30mm (peacetime is about 200m left or right of track, combat can probably halve that), I doubt that any CAS bird will lack a comparable gun. Maybe the lighter GAU13 or GAU12/GAU22, but something bigger than the 20mm M61. There's a huge difference between a light attack or flying FAC bird and an actual CAS monster. The Textron Scorpion is a very good light attack/FAC, but it can't do heavy CAS.
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paulgenna | 23 May 2017 6:30 a.m. PST |
Good thing we have the F-35 for that heavy CAS. |
Lion in the Stars | 23 May 2017 4:02 p.m. PST |
This forum needs a sarcasm font/color. |
Tango01 | 24 May 2017 11:29 a.m. PST |
Totally agree!!! (smile) Amicalement Armand
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Lion in the Stars | 24 May 2017 9:18 p.m. PST |
Assuming that you weren't being sarcastic, Paul, the problem with using the F35 for CAS is two-fold: one is that the F35 is really expensive (so we won't have as many of them available), and the second is that the F35 can't loiter (so you need to assign more birds to CAS). Those two problems reinforce each other. Both COIN and heavy CAS birds need good loiter time, it's one of the few common design requirements they have. COIN birds need to be cheap so you can afford to deploy lots of them. Maybe the new FVL compound helicopters will end up as the COIN birds of the 21st century. CAS birds need loiter time and carrying capacity. |
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