"Replacement_Tommel"
'SINVA LIDBABY wrote in message
...
In article , Daryl Hunt
says...


(snippum)


" wrote in message
link.net...


(snip)



Even the USAF A-10 pilots say that the USAF is ignoring the
A-10 and hoping it'll go away.

Of course. It's the end of a way of life.

Tell the USAF that. I've been reading a few new articles and the USAF
claims
that the A-10 will be in their inventory until 2028. They are even
(finally)
updating it.

The A-10 owes much of it's life
to the Skyraider. Ever been "Had by a Spad?"


When we got involved in Vietnam, the USAF (once again) found itself
without a
suitable attack aircraft - one that could carry gobs of ordinance, was
slow and
had a long loiter time... and once again the USAF had to take a USN
aircraft,
the A-1 Skyraider, to fufill a role that they neglected...

You really need to get a new schtic. This one is stail and quite uniformed.
The AF didn't get it from the Navy, they got it from the boneyard where the
Navy put them in the first place. Then again, quite a few AC were retired
to the Boneyard only to find themselves back on duty. Like the C-124
Globemaster.



(snip)


And so can the F-16 in ground loadout.


If the USAF lets them. The USAF has a tendency to keep their sexy jets
away from
CAS because it doesn't want to get their pretty jets hurt.

Again, ask the Elite Guard that was outside Bagdad. Oh, that's right. They
are all dead from things falling on their heads and going boom.




From what I saw, the A-10, although slower than a F-16, can do two attack
runs
in the same time a F-16 can do one. The A-10 can loiter better than the
F-16.

Then you need to see better. Both can do more than 2, I assure you. The
difference is, the F-16 has a higher survivalbility rate due to it being
able to slow down to 200 kts and then speed up to Mach if need be to exit.
The 10 doesn't have to slow down. It's already slow.


(snip)

What mission? It's main role for Tank busting was done by Bombers.

Nonsense. 80% of the MBTs taken out in Desert Storm were done by A-10s -
even
the USAF has damitted that (USAF General Horner remarked that he took back
everything bad he said about the A-10 because it "saved his ass.")

I don't know where you got your info (you made it up, of course) but the
Buffs were nailing the Republican Guard Armor with Carpet Bombing long
before you characters set foot in even Saudiland.




Everything else, the F-16 and the F-18 can do with a normal load for
ground
support.


F-16s pilots do not practice CAS enough.

I suggest you voice you concerns to the Head of the Air Force. He could use
a nice bit of humor. And since when does anyone in the Military get enough
Battle Practice anyway? I suggest you learn to read roadmaps.





And the F-16 can completely fill the role

The USAF dropped the "A-16" idea because they knew nobody
was daft
enough to buy it...

It can't fly slow enough and it can't direct gunfire
accurately enough. The numbers of "blue on blue" incidents
with F-16s should be enough to tell anyone that.

You seem to forget the number of A-10s as well. The 16 and the 18 can
slow
down to 200 kts like the A-10 can and still deliver the load.


The A-10 can go down to about 110 knots. It's got some big ass boards on
its
wings so that it can slow down effectively - the F-16 doesn't have that.
The
A-10 is also more maneveurable than a F-16 at these speeds.

At 110 kts, you can knock it down with a handgun. At 200 KTs it's a bit
harder to hit it and no pilot in their right mind slows down much below
that. Those that are not in their right mind and slow it down to stall
speed are dead.



And unlike the F-16, the A-10 is a relatively "quiet" aircraft and is more
adept
at sneaking up to mobile ground targets than a F-16 is (I know this cause
one
snuck up on me at one time...).

Yup. Except when the 16 closes, it's usually running at a speed where the
sound is reaching the ground just behind the AC passing. The Doppler affect
makes it appear to be dead quiet. If you heard it, you weren't the target.







the A-10 was supposed to do (and never did).

Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Liberation?

Add Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Just Cause.
All of which have proven (at least to the US Army, US Navy
(hence A-12) and USMC that the A-10 is an excellent aircraft
with a continuing mission in Close Air Support.

You are using ground pounder PR. It's not going to save the A-10.

2028?

Is that a REg or your hat size?



(snip)

Life expectancy of an A-10 against almost any Mig or SU
is about 30
seconds.

The A-10 isn't a fighter, right?

Do we expect that we will be unable to provide CAP and air
superiority anytime soon?

And if we go against a Military with a decent AF, what then?

What are those F-22s and F-15s for?

Newsflash, we don't have enough F-15s and just how many F-22s do you think
are in the active duty inventory? We could have used the F-14 during
Vietnam but didn't.



Do we just leave you ground pounders to fend for yourselves until AS can
be
established?

F-22s and F-15s can't fly escort for A-10s?

Why would they need to. The 16 doesn't need the cover nearly as much. The
A-7s often flew with no Topcap. And the Mig Pilots learned to leave the
Sluf alone due to a high deathrate of their own.




Do we leave the A-10 home until then? What happens if there
is no forward Air Fields?

Odd thing about the A-10... it can fly off relatively unimproved
airfields... if
we did go up against some country with a **** Hot Air Force, it'll be the
F-22s,
F-16s, and F-15s that'll be grounded because their air bases and runways
have
been shot up.

Rave on. Name one place on the earth that the F-15 with Conformal Packs,
the F-16 with external tanks and the Tankers can't get to. There isn't one
place on earth.




The A-10, OTOH, will be flying from makeshift runways...

Without the F-15s, 16s and such, the A-10 will be parked on a very
comfortable Airfield well behind the lines. Completely out of range where
the Junk 1950s Fighters from a 3rd rate AF can't get to them and blow them
all to hell and gone.



The Forward AFs become the Carriers (F-18) and
the AF F-16s with external tanks. The A-10 sits out of range. North
Korea
is a prime example.


See above.

See above.



There were USAF A-10s at Bagram Air Field in the Sandbox, but there sure
as hell
weren't any USAF F-16s there...

Newsflash, there also was no opposing Air Force either. It had already been
plowed away to nothing or thought better of taking off. Attack that A-10
and you get a frontline Fighter on your way in. You won't make it.