Originally Posted by
gums
Salute!
Folks keep harping upon CAS missions and relate to the classic videos and photos from those days of yore. 'Give me a Warthog, not an F-35" is a common theme. I and most of my CAS buddies will tellya that the low and fairly slow planes will get chewed up except in a very few scenarios. In fact, the Hawg would have been chewed up at Fulda in the mid-70's after hitting one or two tanks. Only reason it flew as many missions in the 'stan and during 'raqi II was the adversary training and such was not even a third as good as the Vee I faced and what the Royal Navy experienced at Port Stanley. Ditto for the IAF over the Sinai in 1973 when they were introduced to the SA-6. The A-10's long use in the 'stan was because the scenario was vastly different from those, and resembled what we saw In VietNam early 60's.
So I link to a Hollywood video that is very accurate for the time it portrays. I know because I arrived shortly after the battle it portrays and often flew my little Dragonlfly to drop within yards of the grunts when they were in dire straits. We were 100 knots faster than the A-1 and 100 knots slower than the Scooters and Huns, but were small and had lowest loss rate of the debacle after 5 years. That initial air cavalry unit learned and by the time I flew in thier support we hit the LZ before them and had another flight or two overhead when the choppers unloaded. Anyone here not having not witnessed the drill, it is an extremely accurate portrayal of what I saw more than just a few times and was impressed by the U.S. Army choppers' timing, skill and formation.
So this is what folks think of when you mention CAS, but the F-35 will never use such tactics because it doesn't need to be right on top of the bad guys, and Reapers or other plarforms can put a Hellfire or that Brit thing, which is even better, right on top and more accurate than I ever could hope for. Gotta admit, tho, that the nape is impressive and scary, I loved it.
Born To Be Wild We Were Soldiers - YouTube
Gums sends...
Great Gum one,
your observations are wise as always, however, the fastest way to settle the annoyance that the A-10 continues to give to the debate within the USAF is to hand over a bunch of them to the UF on lend-lease, and to count noses and holes on any that come back in due course. They have the capability to lift eyewatering levels of stuff, and to make ear-pleasing noises for you-tubers. The Su-25's have survived surprisingly well to date, and they vaguely compare to the A-10. The UF has Su experienced drivers, they need a ride and the best one going begging is the A-10. There are a few Su's still floating around, looked at buying a de-milled one in 2015, and it wasn't in bad condition at all, shy on seats though, not trainers to be had. Most of the Su-25s that remain in service anywhere are not in brilliant shape, apparently maintained with the same rigor as the Reds do for their truck tires. Just under 500 odd A-10s sit outside of the daily grind at present, any of those would be an improvement over limited means to disincentivize Red teams. The A-10 is about as simple an airframe that can be bolted together, the engines are still well supported, and it gives another avenue to send messages to the conscripts sitting in their
targets tanks.
Ukraine continues to show heart and headwork in their counter-offensives, today being a good day for the blue/yellow team, not so much for the Reds, they need all the gear that they can reasonably slap into the field pronto, and that seems to suggest the A-10 would have a field trial as to how relevant it is in the world order that now exists. It isn't our boots in harms way, it is the gear that is as often as not considered undesirable, yet may still have some mileage left in it. It seems a win-win for the blue suiters, they can't lose, if the plane is not viable, they get new shiny jets, if the plane is effective, they get to argue a follow-on and major upgrade. This is the opportunity for some field trials while doing good. Pretty sure that the Ukrainians will gratefully receive the hog and turn it into something,
It's not often you get an opportunity to get operational validation of a tactical weapon system without risking US boots n blood. Add gopro max's and sell the footage, ad iMAX, sell tickets, rent the ride, crowdfund, re-allocate Russian central bank funds...whatever, but the UF may just make some good use of the hog, or die trying.