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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Major Obvious: F-35 Pilot Says A-10 Will Always Be Better At Air Support

2015-04-13

The opening salvo:

F-35 pilot Major John Wilson said the obvious in an interview with Danish aviation reporters; the F-35 will never be as good as the A-10 at close air support. This 100 percent factual, non-news statement set off a string stupid news stories. Tomorrow's headline: a dump truck will never be as good of a sports car as a Ferrari.

And it has quite the laundry list of quotes and supporting evidence after that. You'll have to click the link to see because it's too complicated to copy here.

Posted by:gorb

#11 I don't believe, Shipman, New Jersey class battleships can effectively support operations in Afghanistan. Not even if global warming melts every ice cube on earth.

Posted by: Glenmore 2015-04-13 22:45

#10 Moar New Jersey Class!

Posted by: Shipman 2015-04-13 21:20

#9 Its not either or...a good toolbox has differing tools to fit the problem, and sometimes they work great in harmony. The Army used to have a name for it....oh yeah, Combined Arms, I knew I read that somewhere.

Posted by: NoMoreBS 2015-04-13 18:06

#8 Ya, but artillery is so much cheaper.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-04-13 16:23

#7 Problem with artillery is that it has to be based rather close to the target to deliver ordnance. That requires a base which in turn requires more security which all require a logistics tail to support. An A-10s loiter range can cover the area several firebases would take to cover.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-04-13 15:49

#6 Didn't there used to be that thing, what was it's name: arzi, arpi. No, arti. Yes artillery.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-04-13 14:58

#5 Mud movers that are hard targets, can loiter and give the pilot lots of eye time on the target, and the means to do fatal/severe damage repeatedly - those are the ideal close support. And right now, that's the A10 and nothing else. Fast movers can never replace this type of aircraft. The A10 came about because the F4 do-it-all didn't, and the A6/A7 couldn't do it as well as well as the Sandy with it's armor, range and huge ordnance load.

And they will end up reinventing the A10 sooner or later because the requirements of the mission dictate the aircraft, despite the fighter mafia's attempts to force the mission to fit their fast movers that cannot meet the requirements.

Posted by: OldSpook 2015-04-13 14:43

#4 the A-10 is a plane build around a Big Gun. The F-35 ???

The F-35 is a plane built around a Big Con.

Posted by: AlanC 2015-04-13 14:42

#3 But just try to dump a 'bucketload' of rocks and dirt into the back of a Ferrari!

the A-10 is a plane build around a Big Gun. The F-35 ???

Posted by: CrazyFool 2015-04-13 13:04

#2 Dump trucks don't have that 'sexy' appeal of Ferrari.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-04-13 12:55

#1 Yes...

Like the A-10 will never be as great at killing fellow fighters as every fighter in our inventory.

One was build for one mission, the other for another mission.

Dunno why this is so hard for the pointy heads at the Pentagon to figure out.

Posted by: DarthVader 2015-04-13 12:07

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