well Just going to start this thread since i did not want to hijack the F22 thread. It does not make any sence to me to replace this beast with F35, but i guess if its got to be its got to be.
I did a google and found this link has a nice story about the usefullness of the A-10 in combat, not sure if i should verbatim it so I am only posting the link. Going to keep posting more info as I find it, I know a lot of you know this already so i apologise in advance.
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some info to start of with from Warplanes CD again… 🙁 need newer source i know!
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Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
Attack warplane
Service
In service
April 1976
Type
Battlefield close-support and anti-tank warplane
Powerplant
Two General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofans each rated at 9,065 lb st (40.32 kN) dry
Fuel capacity
Internal fuel 10,700 lb (4853 kg); external fuel up to three 600 US gal (499.6 Imp gal; 2271.25 liter) drop tanks; provision for inflight refueling
Wing Span 57 ft 6 in (17.53 m); aspect ratio 6.54; area 506.00 sq ft (47.01 m2)
Length 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m); height 14 ft 8 in (4.47 m); tailplane
span 18 ft 10 in (5.74 m); wheel track 17 ft 2.5 in (5.25 m);
wheel base 17 ft 8.75 in (5.40 m)
Empty 21,541 lb (9771 kg); operating empty 24,959 lb (11321 kg);
normal take-off 32,771 lb (14865 kg);
maximum take-off 50,000 lb (22680 kg)
Never exceed speed 450 kt (518 mph; 834 km/h); maximum level speed ‘clean’ 381 kt (439 mph; 706 km/h) at sea level; cruising speed 336 kt (387
mph; 623 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1525 m)
Ferry range 2,131 nm (2,454 miles; 3949 km) with drop tanks; radius 540 nm (620 miles; 1000 km) on a deep strike mission or 250 nm (288 miles; 463
km) on a close air support mission with a loiter of 1 hours 42 minutes
Maximum rate of climb at sea level 6,000 ft (1828 m) per minute
One 30 mm General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger rotary seven-barrel cannon with 1,350 rounds in the lower port side of the nose
typical loads are six AGM-65
Maverick ASMs, eight or 16 AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles, ‘Paveway’ laser-guided bombs, 2,000 lb (907 kg) GBU-15 optronically guided bombs,
28 500 lb (227 kg) free-fall or retarded bombs, six 2,000 lb (907 kg) free-fall or retarded bombs, eight BLU-1 or BLU-27 napalm bombs, 20 Rockeye II
cluster bombs, 16 CBU-52 or CBU-71 bomb dispensers, and two SUU-23 20-mm cannon pods
Variants
A-10A Thunderbolt II: During the Vietnam War (American involvement between 1961 and 1973), the US Air Force discovered that it lacked a warplane capable of dealing with ground forces operating in close terrain. At one end of the available warplane spectrum, lighter types such as the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog could operate from forward airstrips and thus reach the front line in a matter of minutes, had the low-level agility and modest speed to spot enemy forces, but lacked the firepower to deal with them; at the other end of the spectrum, heavier warplanes such as the North American F-100 Super Sabre had the firepower to wreak enormous damage, but could operate only from major air bases in the rear areas and therefore could not reach the front line rapidly, lacked the endurance to loiter in enemy-infested areas, and also could not adequately acquire enemy forces in close terrain such as the jungles of South Vietnam. Having discovered the need for a dedicated close-support warplane, the USAF then refined its thinking and decided that the type it needed most urgently was a close-support warplane optimized for the tank-killing role in the wooded and hilly European and Korean theaters, which emphasized the need for long endurance with a heavy warload, considerable agility at low altitude, semi-STOL capability for compatibility with semi-prepared fields close behind the front line, and an extraordinary combination of structural strength and systems redundancy to provide a satisfactory level of survivability in the face of AA fire in calibres up to 23 mm. As the USAF refined its resulting AX (Attack Experimental) requirement, other features to emerge were a primary armament of one 30 mm multi-barrel cannon firing specialized tank-killing projectiles, armor protection for the pilot and key systems, an austere avionics fit suiting the type only for operations in clear-weather conditions (seldom a sustained feature of the European and Korean climates!), and a very high level of reliability so that the type could operate for lengthy periods from FOLs (Forward Operating Locations) close to the front line but providing only minimal servicing and repair capabilities. The requirement was issued to 21 companies in March 1967, and by May 1970 the field had been narrowed to 12 companies. In August of the same year, seven companies submitted design proposals, and in December 1970 Fairchild and Northrop each received an order for two prototypes. These types were remarkably similar in overall concept, a fact made unsurprising by the nature of the requirement and the need to install the huge General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger cannon in the forward fuselage. The first of two Northrop YA- 9A machines flew in May 1972, the same month in which the first of the two YA-10A prototypes took to the air. Both types offered excellent capabilities, but selection fell on the Fairchild design as it was closer to production standard. In January 1973 it was announced that the Thunderbolt II had been chosen for full-scale development and production. The first of six pre- production machines flew in February 1975, and the first A-10A from the production line was delivered in November of the same year. The type is of basically conventional aluminum alloy construction, and in configuration is a low-wing monoplane with tricycle landing gear (including large-tired main wheels that only semi-retract into landing gear pod fairings that project forward of the wing leading edges to leave the wheels partially exposed as a means of reducing damage in the event of a wheels-up landing), a tail unit with endplate vertical surfaces, and two non-afterburning turbofan engines pod-mounted above and outboard of the rear fuselage between the wing and tail unit. The forward fuselage and wings thus shield the engines from ground fire in the frontal sector, and the tail unit shields the already cool engine exhausts from acquisition in the rear sector by ground-based teams operating IR-homing SAMs. The A-10A is slow by modern warplane standards, but is prodigiously strong, highly maneuverable, and well armored with 2,900 lb (1315 kg) of plate including the 1,200 lb (544 kg) of 1.5 in (38 mm) titanium that constitutes the pilot’s armored ‘bath’. The type is filled with the structural and system redundancies necessary for battlefield survival, and also possesses considerable endurance and an excellent weapons load to supplement the GAU-8/A cannon, which weighs 620 lb (281kg). This is part of a complete installation that is 19 ft 10.5 in (6.06 m) long and masses 1,963 lb (890 kg) together with its feed system and ammunition tank. The weapon fires either API (Armor-Piercing Incendiary) or HEI (High Explosive Incendiary) ammunition, the former based on a depleted uranium penetrator that is also pyrophoric, and a full ammunition load adds 2,066 lb (937 kg) to the Avenger system’s weight. The weapon had necessarily to be installed in the forward fuselage, and its maximum recoil force of 19,000 lb (8618 kg) dictated a position on the centerline to prevent asymmetric recoil forces. Thus the mass of the gun is slightly offset to port so that the firing barrel is exactly on the centerline, and this required that the nose unit of the landing gear be offset considerably to starboard as a means of ensuring adequate internal volume for the hydraulically operated weapon, which fires at either 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute but only in very short bursts to avoid ammunition wastage and barrel overheating. The rest of the extremely varied armament is distributed on hardpoints under the fuselage and wings. Service has revealed that the type can undertake all the tasks asked of it by the original specification, but that this specification’s lack of a night and adverse-weather operating requirement was short-sighted.
Thus the A-10A’s primary failing is its restriction to clear-weather operations, though this limitation could have been reduced by the adoption of the Martin Marietta LANTIRN (Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infra-Red for Night) system based on two external pods (one with terrain-following radar and FLIR for low-altitude flight and navigation, and the other with a large-aperture FLIR, an automatic tracker and a laser ranger and designator for targeting). These sensors would have provided the pilot’s new wide-angle HUD with a thermal image of the land ahead and all necessary targeting information for the use of ‘smart’ weapons. After it had been decided not to install this expensive system, it was inevitable that the A-10A would gradually be relegated to second-line units during the late 1980s as the USAF’s new ‘AirLand Battle 2000’ concept emphasized the desirability of nocturnal integrated air/land operations as a way of exploiting the USA’s technological superiority over the USSR and its allies. The type did enjoy a last effort with first-line units in the 1991 war against Iraq, when it proved itself a fearsome tank killer and ‘Scud’ missile buster. Current A-10As have been fitted with dual- rail adaptors to allow the carriage of up to four AIM-9L/M Sidewinder short- range AAMs, though just two missiles are generally carried to leave the complementary hardpoint under the other wing free for an ECM pod.
The Thunerbolt II is being phased out of first-line US service as it is replaced by a CAS/BAI (Close Air
Support/Battlefield Air Interdiction) version of the General Dynamics (now Lockheed) F-16 Fighting Falcon
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October 3, 2003 at 9:38 pm