F-35 costs double in 10 years

[Bo Diddley]

I love the A-10. Its even more impressive when you are on the receiving end.



When I was a young LT, - on my first field problem after joining the 3/187 Inf as CESO- some warthogs found my antenna farm and did "strafing runs' on them. They were cleared down to 50 ft and where right in the tree tops. When you are the receiving end, that 30mm looked like an 8 inch howitzer!!!

Hill AFB is the depot for them and you see them flying around here occasionally

The Air Force has been trying to get rid of the A-10 almost since the day it was deployed - not "sexy" enough!

Every time the AF proposed it, the Army basically says "if you don't want to fly them, we will" and the AF backs down.

Basically the Air Force doesn't want to do Close Air Support(CAS)

When I was working F-16 structures, the AF proposed replacing the A-10 with a F-16 with a 30mm gun pod slung beneath it. The gun literally shook the F-16 apart. The whole idea was scrapped really quickly

My brother tells the story of when he was at a joint school with a bunch of AF types, he overheard a coversation between 2 AF Majors. They basically said that if the Army would plan their battles better they wouldn't need CAS

I have always loved the A-10. I remember when the F-35 was coming online how the strategic planners assured us it could provide close air support, but we all knew it was not a good replacement. Such an awesome platform.

[Donuthole]

A year or so ago I spent some time with an A-10 maintenance group and left with a similar souvenir (Red Bull included for scale). 70 of these 30mm rounds per second. Such an incredible weapon.

a10shell.png

Not me over thinking this was a picture of your bathroom and hoping you start every day with a shower RedBull. (It's a thing).

[YOhio]

Not me over thinking this was a picture of your bathroom and hoping you start every day with a shower RedBull. (It's a thing).

Yeah but I first pour it into the A-10 shell casing I'm not uncivilized.