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Home Front: WoT

Pentagon plans A-10 vs. F-35 showdown for close-air-support supremacy

2017-01-28

"The Pentagon’s plan to pit its $400 billion F-35B Joint Strike Fighter against the tried-and-true A-10 Thunderbolt II may happen as early as next year.

The latest update to the National Defense Authorization Act includes a stipulation that while Air Force officials cannot yet retire the iconic "Warthog," they will be expected to set up a battery of tests to gauge each aircraft’s ability to perform close-air-support (CAS) missions.

The director of the Pentagon’s F-35 Integration Office was interviewed by Military.com on Wednesday to elaborate on the battle for CAS supremacy."

Posted by:Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

#15 AlanC: "I still don't know what role the F-35 was meant to fill ... "

The F-35 was supposed to be to the F-22 what the F-16 was to the F-15.

It hasn't worked out that way.

Posted by: Chuck 2017-01-28 19:56

#14 Yes, the Great Apache Raid is also rarely spoken of.

Posted by: Shipman 2017-01-28 18:59

#13 Hai Snowy!

Posted by: Shipman 2017-01-28 18:58

#12 Bobby, they did a 'ground fire tolerance test' on the A-10 during desert Storm using what are now 25 year old Soviet missiles and it failed badly enough that they went back to using fast movers for CAS. The whole A-10 CAS superiority fantasy is based on the idea that we'll never fight another modern army again. Which will be great until suddenly it isn't.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2017-01-28 14:41

#11 Bobby, they did a 'ground fire tolerance test' on the A-10 during desert Storm using what are now 25 year old Soviet missiles and it failed badly enough that they went back to using fast movers for CAS. The whole A-10 CAS superiority fantasy is based on the idea that we'll never fight another modern army again. Which will be great until suddenly it isn't.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2017-01-28 14:41

#10 Thank you Beso. I've said the same thing before.....I forgot the Sarc tag this time.

Posted by: AlanC 2017-01-28 12:59

#9 Make sure they do a "Ground Fire Tolerance" test, too.

Posted by: Bobby 2017-01-28 11:29

I still don't know what role the F-35 was meant to fill beyond the rather vague "everything"

Here, this graphic should enable our mutual understanding.

Posted by: Besoeker 2017-01-28 09:11

#7 I understand the CAS role for which the A-10 was designed.

I still don't know what role the F-35 was meant to fill beyond the rather vague "everything".

It seems silly to run these two against each other. The F-35 had an enormous speed and stealth advantage. Is that all that important vs. the A-10?

The F-35 sounds like the canonical example of feature creep. Why?

Posted by: AlanC 2017-01-28 09:02

#6 The only judges in the CAS eval should be the 'users' - Army and Marine ground pounders.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-01-28 08:47

#5 It's F-111 the remake!

Posted by: Pliny Glons2836 2017-01-28 08:11

#4 The fix will be in for the 4F-35

Posted by: BrerRabbit 2017-01-28 05:38

#3 ...Interesting that this is still going to happen, even more interesting that it's going to happen when the -35 is still pretty wonky. (Realistically, the USAF's -35 will not be a truly combat-capable aircraft for at least two more years.) And the -35, ready or not, will face two problems: in a fair test, the Hog will kick its a$$, and even in a test where the circumstances are set up so the -35 can do it...the Hog will still win.

Place your bets, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Mike

Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2017-01-28 04:44

#2 Yes Glenmore particularly as an A-10 is much cheaper

Posted by: BernardZ 2017-01-28 03:00

#1 They each have a role the other can't fill very well. Why have only one?

Posted by: Glenmore 2017-01-28 00:55

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