America’s Toughest, Ugliest Warplane Is Going Back Into Battle

[Robert Maxwell]

I think an issue that's still up in the air is how you do CAS in a hot fire zone. High-speed jets are terrible for CAS, since they fly past the hot zone too quickly to be of much use. On the plus side, they don't get shot up much. A-10s are better for the CAS role but, of course, they are going to take fire because it's pretty hard to suppress all ground fire. Apaches are even more vulnerable. F/A-18s are good for CAS in general but A-10 still has the edge against armor.

So, I guess my stance would be: A-10 if facing armor, F/A-18 if you just need CAS and you're not going up against armor.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

I have read that for every hour of flight, the F-35 will need 60 hours of maintenance. This is the plane which is proposed as a successor to the A-10. I hope reason prevails, with the A-10 being kept on the roster, for the plane is a proven thing that has a higher number of flight hours than maintenance hours.

 

[publiusr]

The A-10 speaks:
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=27379
Scroll down there and learn about how the P-51 Mustang was almost bright back as a tank buster http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/piper_pa-48.php

Osprey did some tests
http://aviationweek.com/defense/osprey-fires-guided-rockets-and-missiles-new-trials

 

[B.J.]

^ You're spamming random links again. None of those have anything to do with the discussion.

 

[EmoBorg]

The Marine Corps do receive excellent air support from the marine air wings. The Navy has it' own fixed wing air force for naval operations. The Army should get the A-10 and AC-130 which are used for ground operations anyway.