A-10 Thunderbolt/warthog

[Don Chan]

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/...70629b_nr.html

"Boeing Awarded $2 Billion A-10 Wing Contract"

PLEASE ENTER LOCATION, June 29, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract worth up to $2 billion between 2007 and 2018 for engineering services and the manufacturing of 242 wing sets for the Air Force's A-10 fleet.

[2018!?]

[mabie]

"CAS" is being redifined. Yes there is the need for what the A-10 can do but it isn't the tool for every problem considering the battlefield network, PGMs, FACs all tied in together.

At the end of the day the trooper on the ground doesnt care what killed a threat. As long as that threat is dead. The A-10 community still has to figure out some major friendly fire issues.

Exactly right.. the Army's new Excalibur is a step in the right direction and should lessen their dependence on CAS.

[Don Chan]

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/A_10...eover_999.html

"A-10s Get Digital Makeover"

Davis-Monthan AFB AZ (AFPN) Jul 10, 2007
by Senior Airman Tim Beckham
355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Air Force officials are making significant changes to A-10 Thunderbolt IIs as part of the "Precision Engagement" upgrade, which changes the aircraft designation from the A-10A to the A-10C. "It's the largest upgrade the A-10 has ever had by far," said Maj. Drew English, the program manager for A-10C Precision Engagement.

[Don Chan]

FWIW, I just yomped by and read this old article about the A-10B.

http://www.combatreform.com/aircommandos.htm

"Return of the Air Commandos: USAF Close Air Support for the 21st Century"

[Arthur]

FWIW, I just yomped by and read this old article about the A-10B.

http://www.combatreform.com/aircommandos.htm

"Return of the Air Commandos: USAF Close Air Support for the 21st Century"

That's a Sparky-link! Visitors to Tanknet will already know this, but articles written by Mike Sparks aren't to be taken seriously. Why? Because the guy is a serious nutbag, and the ephitomy of fellationist fanboy when it comes to the M113 APC. Search for "Gav!n" on the forums at www.tank-net.org and you'll see what i mean.

Oh, and Sparky doesn't know how to properly layout a page either. He's also big-time into UFO and Kennedy conspiracies...

[Don Chan]

http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp...av=menu484_4_4

"A-10 Warthog hits bird at races; does significant damage"

You may have seen an accident in the air over the Columbia River, an Air Force A-10 hitting a bird during the Air Show.

[Bird 0, Warthog 1.]

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20..._wolak_070731/

"Major given DFC for SEAL rescue mission"

Posted : Tuesday Jul 31, 2007 12:48:24 EDT
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer

A rescue mission in Afghanistan detailed in a best-selling book has earned an Air Force major the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Maj. Keith Wolak of the 74th Fighter Squadron [A-10], Pope Air Force Base, N.C., received the honor Friday in a ceremony at the base.

[Buddha]

81-0964 "Steal your face" - assigned to 511 TFS/10 TFW "AR"

81-0964 was flown by Captain Todd 'Shanghai' Sheehy of the 511th TFS in Jan 1991 and accomplished an air-to-air kill of an Iraqi Mi-8 Hip.

Where is she today??

[Arthur]

81-0964 "Steal your face" - assigned to 511 TFS/10 TFW "AR"

81-0964 was flown by Captain Todd 'Shanghai' Sheehy of the 511th TFS in Jan 1991 and accomplished an air-to-air kill of an Iraqi Mi-8 Hip.

Where is she today??

From the scramble database:

81-0964/FT A-10A c/n A10-0659 74th FS l/n apr06 23 FG since jun05, Iraqi kill mark

[Buddha]

From the scramble database:

81-0964/FT A-10A c/n A10-0659 74th FS l/n apr06 23 FG since jun05, Iraqi kill mark

I appreciate your time to look this up!

[Arthur]

No problem, just cut 'n paste 'n edit. That's what those databases are there for.

Strange it hasn't been seen for over a year. Is 74FS playing in the sandbox these days?

[frankvw]

I read today on Touchdown that 23FG (parent of 74FS) just relocated to Moody, GA.

[Jesper]

It really never ceases to amaze me the American / USAF mentality of easily forgetting important combat lessons! . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pioneer

All you wrote was spot on, I think. Excatly the same things that has puzzled me

Can't remember the title, but read a book about the painfull and difficult birth of the A-10 and the concept behind it. (in which the A-16 concept also was mentioned as a competitor) It was a "bloody" affair. If I remeber clearly, it almost stopped (Stopped?) some senior officers careers to fight for the A-10.

[multivac]

How many A-10s will the USAF have in service after the upgrades and will they be searching the museums for suitable candidates? Hand it back Duxford!

The A-10 seems to be able to survive high damage could the F-35 and other fast movers do so?

[curlyboy]

What happened to the 2 seat YA-10B prototype, it is listed as preserved but where ?

curlyboy

[contrailjj]

According to this recent post... http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/dat...ge.htm?id=4503... she's at the Air Force Flight Test Museum at Edwards.

Somewhere in my collection I have a rather grainy print of her in flight...

JJ

[curlyboy]

Thanks contrailjj it is mentioned on the wikipedia entry that she still exsisted but did not say where !!

Still it is good to see that the once obsolete A10 all of a sudden becomes useful and just because the huge tank battles of the cold war never happened it can be of more use at other things.

curlyboy

[WP840]

Thanks contrailjj it is mentioned on the wikipedia entry that she still exsisted but did not say where !!

Still it is good to see that the once obsolete A10 all of a sudden becomes useful and just because the huge tank battles of the cold war never happened it can be of more use at other things.

curlyboy

Was the A10 used for anything other than tankbusting during Gulf War 1?

[curlyboy]

Close support of ground troops, and also delivered attacks on Scuds early on, until replaced by Eagles and other fast movers, Also it shot down 2 helicopters.

And unfortunately some Blue on Blue .

curlyboy

[duotiga]

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...yond-2028.html

DATE:29/08/07
SOURCE:Flight International
US Air Force may extend Fairchild A-10 life beyond 2028
By Stephen Trimble


The US Air Force may seek to retain and continuously upgrade its Fairchild A-10 fleet far beyond its currently planned retirement date of 2028. "There are bigger numbers throwing around that are much [later] than that," Air Combat Command chief of requirements Lt Col Ralph Hansen told Flight International on 21 August.

Armed with a nose-mounted 30mm cannon, the A-10 was first deployed in 1976 to destroy enemy tanks, but its mission has been expanded since the end of the Cold War to also include close air support duties and co-operating with special forces for combat search and rescue purposes.

The programme has in the past faced sceptics within the air force's leadership, with then-Maj Gen David Deptula reportedly having asked a subordinate to draft a memorandum justifying the retirement of the A-10 fleet in April 2003, with the invasion of Iraq still in progress. This effort was dropped after a highly publicised backlash and in 2004 the service announced a new plan to re-engine the A-10 fleet and upgrade the aircraft to use precision-guided weapons.

The so-called "Super Hog" plan fell apart a year later when the air force killed funds for the re-engining plan, but a separate precision engagement programme was awarded to Lockheed Martin to upgrade all 356 A-10s with digital weapon stores, multifunction displays, the situational awareness datalink and smart weapons such as Boeing's GBU-38 JDAM. The first redesignated A-10Cs will make their combat debut in September, following a crash effort to accelerate the precision engagement programme by 18 months.

The air force also plans to replace the thin-skin wings on about 250 A-10s with a more robust wing structure, and awarded a $2 billion contract to Boeing in July to complete the modifications. A wide range of additional upgrades may also still be in store for the A-10, ranging from new networks, additional weapons and reviving the engine upgrade proposal.

Roger Il Grande, Lockheed's precision engagement programme manager, believes integrating new networks tops the priorities list, with the Link 16 and Tactical Targeting Networking Technology considered candidates.

The programme also is reviewing options for installing the Lockheed AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile, says Hansen. The air force has meanwhile proposed reviving production of Raytheon's laser-guided AGM-65E Maverick missile, as A-10 squadrons have been forced to acquire the missiles from the US Navy for operational needs.

Hansen says the Air Combat Command will also reconsider inserting funds for the General Electric TF-34 engine upgrade kit in the next five-year spending plan starting in fiscal year 2010.

[Don Chan]

(I'm re-energising this zombie thread about the A-10, so fellow A-10 fans still subscribed to this thread may help.)

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-14419.html

"Help recognize a pilot lost in Desert Storm

On the last day of Desert Storm, an A-10 pilot, Captain Patrick Olson, was lost while attempting to land his heavily damaged aircraft at his base in Saudi Arabia.

There is a new bridge in his hometown of Washington, NC and friends of his family have started a petition to have it named after him.
It's the least we can do to honor a fallen airman.
You can sign the petition at a link through this Blog, and I hope you will - Mike"

http://verbalincontinence-sisu.blogs...ian-olson.html