USA to use new A-67 in Iraq?
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Re the solicitation for a COIN a/c. From the spec 'advised' is there anybody out there who doesn't doubt that the Hawker Beechcraft AT6B will be chosen
?
Cynical? Moi?
?Cynical? Moi?
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Good luck to the A-67, but what we really need is to re-open the A10 line, or buy some SU-25s or, best of all, stick a dirty big turboprop onto a Skyraider airframe. I'd fly it!! (Come to think of it, I'd fly it "as is"!)
The OV 10 is still giving stirling service down my way and regularly graces the skies.
One notes that it was popular in ‘Nam especially as its ability to operate nearer the action meant that it got there quick.
There has always been a cross over between the COIN and CAS concept. The COIN concept has gone through so many iterations. The DH9A fulfilled the role in Iraq in the post WW1 years. Cheap and cheerful? Sure, but a limited useful load.
Let’s face it, life expectancy of anyone flying any of the proposed ‘COIN’ aircraft in the current Iraq environment is not likely to be extended. Someone suggested reopening the A10 line. Now there’s an idea.
But one Air Force has had a huge amount of experience in this field and has developed the aircraft for the job: huge payload, all weather, titanium bathtub, 2 seater ‘cos it gets busy up there, can run on diesel, is based on a combat proven design and you can order it here:
http://www.airshow.ru/expo/412/prod_211.htm
The SU 39
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Coin / Cas A/c
The OV-10 sounds tempting, at least to supply the Iraqi AF, with as much of a defensive suite as is possible, all things considered.
However it's possibly a bit beyond them, being a powerful twin, and I never fancied the 'stroll out straight into the prop blades'.
We all know the modernised A-10 is the aircraft for the moment - and to an extent the Harrier, both U.S. & U.K, and I personally from my comfy chair reckon both these aircraft deserve / require re-opened production lines.
However time is a factor, and it's a lesson from history that governments especially tend to ' prepare for the last war '...
That being said, I can't see a near - mid future where either aircraft is not extremely useful.
However it's possibly a bit beyond them, being a powerful twin, and I never fancied the 'stroll out straight into the prop blades'.
We all know the modernised A-10 is the aircraft for the moment - and to an extent the Harrier, both U.S. & U.K, and I personally from my comfy chair reckon both these aircraft deserve / require re-opened production lines.
However time is a factor, and it's a lesson from history that governments especially tend to ' prepare for the last war '...
That being said, I can't see a near - mid future where either aircraft is not extremely useful.
Surely, this is the CAS/COIN aircraft of the moment. 14hrs overhead without tanking, precision overwatch and plenty of weapons effect...without risking pink bodies. Re-open the Harrier production line? I don't think so!
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I'm not sure that being in a slow moving vulnerable aeroplane is the suicide mission that it is cracked up to be. Didn't the Cessna 0-2 perform very well as an observation / FAC platform for most of the Vietnam war? It didn't have much offensive armament, most carried target marking white phos. But their pilots racked up a staggering tally of successful missions.
I'm sure that most would have preferred an OV-10 though.
Surely the Dragonfly would be a good steed to patrol and support the ground, I doubt that there would be much need for re-training as it's basicly a beefed up Tweet.
Skyraider would pluck at most peoples heart strings though, or a modified Hurricane 2B for that real desert retro feel.....no, getting silly now.
I'm sure that most would have preferred an OV-10 though.
Surely the Dragonfly would be a good steed to patrol and support the ground, I doubt that there would be much need for re-training as it's basicly a beefed up Tweet.
Skyraider would pluck at most peoples heart strings though, or a modified Hurricane 2B for that real desert retro feel.....no, getting silly now.
Didn't the Cessna 0-2 perform very well as an observation / FAC platform
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Yet another candidate in the back-to-the-seventies COIN line-up: the Air Tractor AT-802U. The really neat thing about this idea, as anyone who operates out of Abeline or any part of the panhandle on a regular basis can confirm, is that there's already a large pool of suicidal pilots ready to fly the mission (with the added benefit that they can add another 5 lb to the AT-802U's 4 ton payload by junking the radio...). 
I/C
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The AT-802 is actually quite a capable airplane.
You need to google more recent information. The T-65 was running in short supply eight years ago. It's been replaced by AT-802's: T-67's...which also replaced the less capable OV-10's.
A low-key appearance does provide certain advantages. The U.S. State Department operates a fleet of Ayres Vigilantes, armed and armored derivatives of the T-65 Turbo Thrush crop-duster modified for the drug eradication mission at the national level, where it overlaps with counterinsurgency and foreign internal defense. Painted black and flown by two-man crews seated in tandem, these aircraft are able to operate with relative impunity in areas where an overt military presence is considered obtrusive and might even compromise political objectives.
