5 ms·

The Airforce does not want the A-10 The Army and Marines are begging to keep it I trust the Army and Marines more than the fucking Airforce

nosequel 10y ago
Why is that exactly? I love the A-10, and so does the Army and Marines, it is by far the best CAS weapon we have. The airforce knows more about aircraft and keeping those aircraft in the air than both the army and marines. Unfortunately the A-10 is old, and no one is manufacturing replacement parts for it. So as of right now the air force is happy with AC-130 gunship and the F-15E, F35. I hate the idea of the A-10 going away, and certainly the pilots are the same way. Keeping planes in the air on old parts is a hard thing though.
- jblow 10y ago
  You act as if it's somehow not easier to commission the remanufacture of parts for a well-understood plane than it is to manufacture a whole new, untested plane. Come on, seriously.
  - omegaham 10y ago
    Having worked in requisitions, that's exactly how it works. Design new radar? "Here you go, have fifty parts!" Trying to get a power supply for a radar that's been around for sixty years? "Nope, no one's made those in forty years. Put the request into the system, and maybe we'll do a limited parts run in five years." It makes sense if you're willing to contort your mind to military logic.
- the_ancient 10y ago
  The F-16 as well as the F15 and AC130. the F35 is a trillion dollar paperwieght that should be scraped, I would be more in favor of ending that trillion dollar gift to Lockheed by way of the corrupt military than ending the A10 program //For the record, I fucking hate the F35, it is by far the worst aircraft ever produced by the US Military
dragonwriter 10y ago
The people that actually have to support and operate it don't want it, the people whose mission it supports but who don't bear the support burden do want it. In each case, there are structural biases that favor those decisions even if they aren't right on balance.
- dingaling 10y ago
  The Army has indicated repeatedly that it is willing to bear the support burden for tasks that are important to it. For example, the Caribou and more recently the C-27 light transports that were taken from them and reallocated. In 1960s the US Army was investigating organic fast-moving CAS aircraft, they tested the F-5A, G.91 and A-4 but were told that it was unacceptable. They even faced restrictions on arming the OV-1 Mohawk for which they paid every cent. They want it, they will pay for it but the blue-suits have the document that says 'no'.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    Still, they don't have the experience of supporting it, and there's plenty of evidence that that prosuces a bias to discount the burden. That said, I've addressed the Key West agreements elsewhere in this thread: they aren't a constraint when we're talking about Congressional options. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11601834 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11601834
- the_ancient 10y ago
  The People that actually operate it (they have never supported it) do not want CAS, they have never wanted CAS They want high flying fast support stealth where they can push a button and fire a missile at a target miles and miles away... They want nothing to with close support

nosequel 10y ago

Why is that exactly? I love the A-10, and so does the Army and Marines, it is by far the best CAS weapon we have. The airforce knows more about aircraft and keeping those aircraft in the air than both the army and marines. Unfortunately the A-10 is old, and no one is manufacturing replacement parts for it. So as of right now the air force is happy with AC-130 gunship and the F-15E, F35. I hate the idea of the A-10 going away, and certainly the pilots are the same way. Keeping planes in the air on old parts is a hard thing though.

jblow 10y ago
You act as if it's somehow not easier to commission the remanufacture of parts for a well-understood plane than it is to manufacture a whole new, untested plane. Come on, seriously.
- omegaham 10y ago
  Having worked in requisitions, that's exactly how it works. Design new radar? "Here you go, have fifty parts!" Trying to get a power supply for a radar that's been around for sixty years? "Nope, no one's made those in forty years. Put the request into the system, and maybe we'll do a limited parts run in five years." It makes sense if you're willing to contort your mind to military logic.
the_ancient 10y ago
The F-16 as well as the F15 and AC130. the F35 is a trillion dollar paperwieght that should be scraped, I would be more in favor of ending that trillion dollar gift to Lockheed by way of the corrupt military than ending the A10 program //For the record, I fucking hate the F35, it is by far the worst aircraft ever produced by the US Military

dragonwriter 10y ago

The people that actually have to support and operate it don't want it, the people whose mission it supports but who don't bear the support burden do want it. In each case, there are structural biases that favor those decisions even if they aren't right on balance.

dingaling 10y ago
The Army has indicated repeatedly that it is willing to bear the support burden for tasks that are important to it. For example, the Caribou and more recently the C-27 light transports that were taken from them and reallocated. In 1960s the US Army was investigating organic fast-moving CAS aircraft, they tested the F-5A, G.91 and A-4 but were told that it was unacceptable. They even faced restrictions on arming the OV-1 Mohawk for which they paid every cent. They want it, they will pay for it but the blue-suits have the document that says 'no'.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  Still, they don't have the experience of supporting it, and there's plenty of evidence that that prosuces a bias to discount the burden. That said, I've addressed the Key West agreements elsewhere in this thread: they aren't a constraint when we're talking about Congressional options. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11601834 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11601834
the_ancient 10y ago
The People that actually operate it (they have never supported it) do not want CAS, they have never wanted CAS They want high flying fast support stealth where they can push a button and fire a missile at a target miles and miles away... They want nothing to with close support