"The sound of don't mess with me!" I can never get enough of A10 Warthog videos. This documentary was fun to watch.
A good A10 Warthog documentary!
- Thread starter CobraBob
- Start date
Mega Projects YT channel has a ton of good military vids.
A childhood friend of mine who ended up in TACP testified to a congressional committee on behalf of the A10 a few years back. He's the one calling in CAS so it must be pretty effective if he's standing before congress to fight for its continued operation.
I hope it lives on. It's a highly effective ground combat weapon.
I’d happily do the same given the opportunity. The A-10 is that good.
Thanks for posting..
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I can personally attest to the fact those things are simply unmatched in the CAS role. And it’s also a testament to the pilots who fly them as well as they take that responsibility very personally.
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This was a painful 86 min.
Part one is ****ing useless and barely touches the A-10. Its just a bitch session about some ****** named Sprey. Skip it.
Part 2 is Long, Detailed, And makes some good arguments about the A10s difficulty with civilian casualties and friendly fire issues.
With that said, This guy is admittedly getting Lectured through Discord for a lot of his information.... Bit of a Red Flag for me...
My Take: The A-10 is a ****ing 51 Year old Aircraft... The fact that it's still in service is baffling. Is it obsolete? after 5 decades.... I would hope so.
If its Obsolete, what's the replacement? What replaces it for CAS?
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If you understand his point what replaces CAS is stand off precision. The days of a pilot loitering over a contested area searching for targets of opportunity is over.
The Air force Desperately wants to kill the A10 but congress won't let them. This goes into Pigs whole rant about Spreys and the Reformers.
Just look at Ukraine. The Su-25 is the A-10s equivalent on paper. Same speeds, range, armor and weapon systems. Same battle tested ruggedness and survivability - and they aren't exactly having a great go at it on either side.
The A-10 is indicative of the WW2 mentality people have. Just look at the F35. People screech a Su-35 is faster or the Su-57 is more maneuverable or an F-15 carries more....
None of that matters if as you are flying along you simply explode because you couldn't detect he was there....
Just like you don't need an A-10 flying circles overhead waiting for you to point out a tank or bunker and hoping he hits it with is "brrrpt" cannon when you can call in precision Artillery, HIMARS, Drones, F35, F-16 etc strikes and instantly vaporize it.
A10 pilots couldn't tell the difference between a BMP1 and a AAV....
As for future CAS Aircraft for uncontested Airspaces...
AT-6 Wolverine by Textron and A-29 by Embraer.
Wolverines
I think the bullet catchers on the ground should have the last word, not politicians, and def not some know it all on a car website.
Just for awareness, the GOV doesn’t care about their personnel. They’ll sacrifice them all day long to suit their needs.
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Just for awareness, the GOV doesn’t care about their personnel. They’ll sacrifice them all day long to suit their needs.
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We have all of the capabilities you mention, but we don't always have those capabilities on hand all the time in every place. The guys on the ground swear by it, most of all, guys in SOCOM so that tells me a lot compared to my knowledge as an infantryman. You have to have a diverse set of weaponry on the battlefield, and one weapon, or multiple weapons, can't always replace another system just because on paper it says they can.
Im running through my mind what can replace the A-10. Spectre Gunship? What does one of those ****ers cost to have floating around? Whats its service area? The A-10 probably doesnt do everything perfect, But to be in service for 50+years... **** me that's a successful platform...
If you wanna replace it, come up with a viable alternative. Im sure you could equip drones to an extent... Idk... Just seems like a plane youre gonna really wish you had when the shit gets raw and you need that CAS that can land and take off from a ****in corn field.
Edit: 130J- Ghostrider would be the Spectre's Current in service model I believe.
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Nothing better than an OH6 that can be 10’ off the ground.
But OMG that’s Vietnam era……
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But OMG that’s Vietnam era……
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I do remember hearing that SOCOM was doing everything they could when fighting ISIS I believe it was, and they even started using the OV-10 Bronco because they were desperate for close air support and the A10 was not being made readily available. It was around the time the A10 was up for review, but regardless the fight continued and units were desperate for support so they did what had to be done. The Bronco worked great from what I understand because they could get it in the air nearby and within minutes, but it never had the capability the A10 has.
The A10 has been the best balanced platform for CAS regardless of new tech. Bottom line is there are platforms that just have that staying power and the A10 is up there with the B52. People think we should be progressing beyond that and retiring them, and we should try, but there is the chance that we really did peak with these platforms... at least for the time being.
Just Brainstorming Cost effectiveness....
The Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules costs around $75.5 million per aircraft.
When the costs for upgrades and maintenance are factored in, the total cost for an A-10 Warthog is roughly $18.8 million.
Not taking into account the 7 man crew on a Ghostrider vs a single pilot in an A-10.
Again this is just my brain storming on what platform can replace the A-10 for CAS....
I think Id rather have 4 A-10s I can dispatch to multiple locations than 1 C130J...
What about Apaches or Vipers? Alot slower... much less survivability... Range is gonna be VERY limited compared to the A-10... and they cost a shit ton more than the A-10...
Check this guy out: A14 Wild Wolf...
There isn't anything currently available that can replace the A-10, which IMHO means it's not obsolete. It's still the #1 CAS platform available to non-SOF service members. The cool kids get the AC-130.
Those days of loitering over a target are still on-going, though nowadays its usually with a drone. Loiter time can mean everything. There's nothing more frustrating than having a section of Harriers check in, get their 9 line, then immediately announce they're Bingo and have to RTB with no drops.
"None of that matters if as you are flying along you simply explode because you couldn't detect he was there...."
Agree, but the number one rule of CAS is to eliminate the air defense threat first. No different for an A-10 than a B-52. It's always a threat regardless of type of aircraft and is even information included on a 9 line. Artillery FO's spend an extraordinary amount of time learning SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) to facilitate CAS. All that to say the A-10 can survive more ground fire than almost any other aircraft out there.
"Just like you don't need an A-10 flying circles overhead waiting for you to point out a tank or bunker and hoping he hits it with is "brrrpt" cannon when you can call in precision Artillery, HIMARS, Drones, F35, F-16 etc strikes and instantly vaporize it."
Except for when those assets aren't available, either because you're out of range or they haven't been allocated to you, which is often if you're at the tip of the spear. It's not just the 30mm cannon. You do know that the A-10 can carry a shit-ton of precision guided munitions, right?
"A10 pilots couldn't tell the difference between a BMP1 and a AAV...."
Perhaps, and that's one reason why we use FAC's and JTAC's.
This
AC-130 will almost NEVER be allocated to non-SOF troops. They're the pinnacle of CAS, but big $$ and an unrealistic replacement for the A-10.
There's not a drone out there that carry the payload of an A-10 (that I'm aware of).
My favorite helo, but SO easy to take down with just small arms fire.
Like you said, Apaches and Vipers don't have nearly the survivability of an A-10, less range, and cost much more.
Ya'll can probably tell how much I love the Warthog. For context, I was a USMC JTAC from 02-06 and have worked with nearly every type of US aircraft that does air to mud. Simply put, there isn't a non-SOF aircraft platform that can execute CAS as effectively as the A-10 and I was beside myself when the DOD tried to retire them.
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