I love the A-10...

[ozrocker]

That A-10 is fantastic.   The Air Force keeps trying to retire it.  I say let the Army have it.

Was awesome when I was in, we always had A-10 , Cobra, Kiowa & Apache CAS.

A-10's would come in, open with cannon, drop bombs and immediately roll over to see tgt impact/results.
Gunships would standoff to fire 2.75's, Cannon, M60's (Kiowas) and Hellfires.
All the while, we were dropping 4.2" (107mm) HE & WillyP (White Phosphorus) Mortar rounds on same targets.
Quite the show

                                                                                                                       :cheers:Oz

[Rino]

     I went to tech school in the Air Force with a bunch of A-10 fire control mechanics.  I remember them grumbling about having to learn
the F4 weapons control system out at Lowery AFB because the initial A-10s had the same gunsight as the F4 did.  The reason they were
grumbling is that they were forced to learn the Phantom radar system too...even though the A-10 didn't carry a fire control radar.

     I could see their point, in fact I don't think the A-10 ever carried a radar, just IR right?

[Shifty]

No radar while I was on em Rino. My time with the A-10 ended in 1992, I have no idea what system upgrades they've gone through since then.

[Puma44]

Yeah, Rino, as Shifty said, no radar.  No room for it with that big honking gun in the nose.



By the way, where did you crew F-4s?

[flight17]

Su-25? Besides having a less impressive gun and engines being located near each other, in every other category, it performs better or about the same as the A-10.

The whole point of the a-10 though is the gun...

[titanic3]

The whole point of the a-10 though is the gun...

A missile works just as good if not better.  Though I'm not hating on the gun, no one can.

[Rino]

Yeah, Rino, as Shifty said, no radar.  No room for it with that big honking gun in the nose.

(Image removed from quote.)

By the way, where did you crew F-4s?

     What my office used to look like 


     Moody AFB, Valdosta Ga.  347th TFW  I worked the pointy end, Weapons Control System Mechanic
Btw, they could have stuffed a radar into that Warthog if they really wanted to, but the mission profile it flies
really doesn't suit a radar setup well.  OKay, that and I virtually promise every time you used the gun you'd
need to fix all the  radar stuff that broke from the vibration.

     Heck we almost killed one of our own F4s with a 4 barreled pod version of the GAU-8.  The muzzle blast from
the gun shook loose a bunch of hydraulic lines and we had to punch the pod and ditch it on the wingtanks.  Ouch.  

[Rino]

A missile works just as good if not better.  Though I'm not hating on the gun, no one can.

     Guns are alot cheaper to use and usually more reliable though.  Heck the nickname of the older AIM-7 Sparrows used
to be the "Great White Hope" 

[Puma44]

     What my office used to look like 
(Image removed from quote.)

     Moody AFB, Valdosta Ga.  347th TFW  I worked the pointy end, Weapons Control System Mechanic
Btw, they could have stuffed a radar into that Warthog if they really wanted to, but the mission profile it fliesn
really doesn't suit a radar setup well.  OKay, that and I virtually promise every time you used the gun you'd
need to fix all the  radar stuff that broke from the vibration.

     Heck we almost killed one of our own F4s with a 4 barreled pod version of the GAU-8.  The muzzle blast from
the gun shook loose a bunch of hydraulic lines and we had to punch the pod and ditch it on the wingtanks.  Ouch. 

When were you at Moody?  I was there 84-87 in the 70th.

Shootin' the gun?  Ya baby!

[B3YT]

the cannon is the most effective weapon against a tank division , especially when they are moving down roads .  you can  hit 1 tank with a missile   or you can strafe the entire lot  in one pass .  2 A10's can decimate an entire tank column in 1 maybe 2 passes that would take  2 minutes  flying at right angles to each other . 

[Rino]

When were you at Moody?  I was there 84-87 in the 70th.

Shootin' the gun?  Ya baby!

     I left in October 84...so close.  I was in the 339th AMU, which got renamed to the 69th AMU in 83. 

[MarineUS]

I grew up and live near Valdosta

[Shifty]

I was stationed there as well 93-94. Moody was my last assignment.

[Grayeagle]

LOL .. missile as effective as gun

Apples and Oranges.

If yer lookin at a single target with range in miles, yes ..missile may be a good option, especially if target is above you.

If yer screamin down a valley suckin baby birds from their nests lookin for love I'll take a gun any day.

-Frank aka GE (just sayin -tm Pasha)

[Mus51]

A-10  
MK-48  
FUNKER530