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Post by Sailor on Jan 19, 2015 16:09:26 GMT -8
A top U.S. Air Force general warned officers that praising the A-10 attack plane to lawmakers amounts to “treason,” according to a news report. Maj. Gen. James Post, vice commander of Air Combat Command, was quoted as saying, “If anyone accuses me of saying this, I will deny it … anyone who is passing information to Congress about A-10 capabilities is committing treason,” in a report published Thursday on The Arizona Daily Independent. In a response to the news outlet, a spokesman at the command, based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, described the comments to attendees of a recent Tactics Review Board at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada as “hyperbole.” More here: www.dodbuzz.com/2015/01/16/general-praising-the-a-10-to-lawmakers-is-treason/ |
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Post by 101ABN on Jan 20, 2015 7:18:28 GMT -8
I'm pretty sure the Army doesn't want them retired.
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Post by Sailor on Jan 20, 2015 12:03:12 GMT -8
I'm sure you for one are probably even more aware of the need for an aircraft with this one's capabilities than I would be because I wasn't out on the ground. Other than the EM club on Saturday night the closest I ever got to a fight involving the Army was 20 miles off shore during Desert Storm. I know what this flying tank can do.
If the USAF retires it I'd like to see the Marines adopt it, contrary to popular opinion it doesn't have to be carrier capable for the Jarheads to make good use of it.
Won't happen though. Asshats like that General would make certain the aircraft got the same treatment the Tomcat got when it was retired. Many of those planes weren't even flown out to Davis-Monthan, they were chopped up right here at Oceana Air Station, over 100 of them. Those flown to the DM were chopped up with in 24 months, nearly 120 of them.
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Post by warrior1972 on Jan 21, 2015 4:58:10 GMT -8
THe military aircraft of that era are a thing of wonder.
F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, A-10.
It's been forty years since the first ones flew.
It's almost fitting that the last of these would be the A-10, a steel-hard aircraft designed to give ground support for a war against the Warsaw Pact, now being used for so-called "low-intensity" conflicts.
No, not almost.
It IS fitting.
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Post by Sailor on Jan 21, 2015 12:19:35 GMT -8
Of the aircraft you listed the only one retired is the Tom, the others continue to soldier on and will for the foreseeable future. The A-10 is the only western fixed wing aircraft capable of getting down in the weeds and mud with the ground guys and hand the other side their asses while taking damage that would kill any 4 other planes. None of the others INCLUDING the much vaunted F-35 can do that.
The only other plane I can think of off hand even remotely comparable is the old Soviet Era designed SU-25 "Frogfoot," still in service. The Russians informally refer to it as "Sturmovik," named after the legendary Tiger tank killing IL-2 ground attack plane of WWII.
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Post by warrior1972 on Jan 24, 2015 6:14:48 GMT -8
Of the aircraft you listed the only one retired is the Tom, the others continue to soldier on and will for the foreseeable future. The A-10 is the only western fixed wing aircraft capable of getting down in the weeds and mud with the ground guys and hand the other side their asses while taking damage that would kill any 4 other planes. None of the others INCLUDING the much vaunted F-35 can do that. The only other plane I can think of off hand even remotely comparable is the old Soviet Era designed SU-25 "Frogfoot," still in service. The Russians informally refer to it as "Sturmovik," named after the legendary Tiger tank killing IL-2 ground attack plane of WWII. Yeah... TREASON, MY ASS!
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Post by Sailor on Jan 24, 2015 9:02:51 GMT -8
The simple fact is, right now we NEED the A-10. There is nothing else in the inventory, fixed or rotary wing that can compare.
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Post by 101ABN on Jan 24, 2015 13:26:55 GMT -8
In other news, the B-52, the OTHER US aircraft that does what no other in the inventory can do is still going strong at age 60.
Go figure.
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