Todos
← Back to Squawk list
Islamic State fight could breathe new life into the A-10
Months after staving off a trip to the boneyard, the embattled A-10 Thunderbolt II is headed to the Middle East where it could be used to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. An Indiana Air National Guard unit that flies the Cold War-era gunships, known as Warthogs, is planning to deploy about 300 airmen and an unknown number of its aircraft to the U.S. Central Command region early next month, says a Sept. 17 news release from the unit. (www.stripes.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
what is needed at once, now, today, without delay, is to ship apache, cobra, every airworthy warthog a-10 , spectre gunships, and enough control aircraft to control and organize their most effective use. We will have to do this eventually, so, let us get to it. ISIS lacks effective counters to these proven weapons in sufficient numbers to slow us down. Let them begin at once attacking these 8th century truck-mounted barbarians, These aircraft can loiter, hover, mass and attack,and we can recreate kill boxes as we had in Iraq. If it moves and it isn't ours, we shoot and destroy. Otherwise, why do we have them in inventory?
Good news for the troops on and not on the ground. :-)
none of this gradual ramping of of air power. Let's see several hundred apache, cobra,A-10 warthogs along with Spectre c-130 gunships go to war as fast as they can be brought into the theater, and tell them to bet busy, very busy. ISIS has no counter to these proven weapon systems, which are capable of loitering, hovering, massing and attacking, and erasing the pick-up truck 8th century warriors. There were designated kill zones in the first Iraq war- time to draw up some new ones and squish the bad guys. We got the numbers- we are overdue getting them back to work. We are going to have to do something like this eventually, so cut the silliness and get to it.
The A-10 is a really bad ass aircraft. The perfect platform to take out the trucks and provide air support. Too bad they aren't already there!!
They keep trying but it ain't dying. A10 is the perfect ground support asset. The "if it works, don't fix it" adage really applies to this plane.
Even more, what's better for close air support than a slow, quiet plane that's built like a tank and simply looks like hell on wheels when you're staring down the barrel at 30mm of fury?
None of the newer a/c are nearly as hardy as the A-10, and the worldwide trend seems to be more of this guerilla-style warfare that will require more close air precision and anti-personnel strikes, as opposed to high altitude "fixed target" strikes against government infrastructure.
None of the newer a/c are nearly as hardy as the A-10, and the worldwide trend seems to be more of this guerilla-style warfare that will require more close air precision and anti-personnel strikes, as opposed to high altitude "fixed target" strikes against government infrastructure.
The Russians saw the need for a specialized ground support aircraft in WW2 so they produced the heavily armored IL-2 Stormovik which served in that role as well as a flying tank buster. The USAAF used the P-47 in much the same role. Both aircraft could get down in the mud and do the job while absorbing lots of punishment. There's a reason the the A-10 is called the Thunderbolt II because it does the same job. Too bad the AF can't see the need!