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> They ought to think ahead and refit the A-10 fleet as ground-piloted drones. Curious as to whether this is even possible. Even if it was, I doubt the pilot r

> They ought to think ahead and refit the A-10 fleet as ground-piloted drones. Curious as to whether this is even possible. Even if it was, I doubt the pilot requirement is the only thing keeping the Air Force from wanting to keep it around. Edit: Quora FTW https://www.quora.com/U-S-Air-Force-Could-you-turn-the-A-10-into-a-drone https://www.quora.com/U-S-Air-Force-Could-you-turn-the-A-10-...

dforrestwilson1 11y ago
I don't know why you were downvoted but I think it's a fair question. I think the biggest limitations would be keeping a solid comms link (you don't want to lose connection in mid-dive for instance), and air speed (you want more reaction time due to the potential for lag or lost connections). You would want to build in auto-pilot redundancies to have the drones fly home if they lose communications links. For speed, the A-10 would be one of the better candidates, due to its slower loitering speed of about 300 Mph which is still significantly faster than an MQ-9 Reaper (200 Mph or so), but in-line with the MQ-9's top speed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunde... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper Another interesting option would be to strip out the gun mount from the A-10 and slap it on the underside of a quadcopter drone as a turret.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  > Another interesting option would be to strip out the gun mount from the A-10 and slap it on the underside of a quadcopter drone as a turret. Are you talking about this monster?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger No way could you put that thing on a helicopter. It barely fits on a plane (the entire plane was designed around that gun) as it is. https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ Even if you managed to make it stable enough to sustain fire on a target, where would you put the ammo drum? A-10s have special stands you have to put under them when you take the drum out, otherwise the whole thing tips over.
  - dforrestwilson1 11y ago
    If we can make this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130 I'm pretty sure it's doable.
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      Apparently you have a different idea of what a quadcopter is than I do.

dforrestwilson1 11y ago

I don't know why you were downvoted but I think it's a fair question. I think the biggest limitations would be keeping a solid comms link (you don't want to lose connection in mid-dive for instance), and air speed (you want more reaction time due to the potential for lag or lost connections). You would want to build in auto-pilot redundancies to have the drones fly home if they lose communications links. For speed, the A-10 would be one of the better candidates, due to its slower loitering speed of about 300 Mph which is still significantly faster than an MQ-9 Reaper (200 Mph or so), but in-line with the MQ-9's top speed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunde... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper Another interesting option would be to strip out the gun mount from the A-10 and slap it on the underside of a quadcopter drone as a turret.

vinceguidry 11y ago
> Another interesting option would be to strip out the gun mount from the A-10 and slap it on the underside of a quadcopter drone as a turret. Are you talking about this monster?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger No way could you put that thing on a helicopter. It barely fits on a plane (the entire plane was designed around that gun) as it is. https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ Even if you managed to make it stable enough to sustain fire on a target, where would you put the ammo drum? A-10s have special stands you have to put under them when you take the drum out, otherwise the whole thing tips over.
- dforrestwilson1 11y ago
  If we can make this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130 I'm pretty sure it's doable.
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    Apparently you have a different idea of what a quadcopter is than I do.