Hourly costs

[amillet]

The Air Force could use some Mooneys to reduce the average cost per hour to operate its aircraft

http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-plane-cost-per-flight-hour-chart-2016-3

[gsengle]

I'm assuming those costs are "wet" :-o


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[bradp]

Why was the AF so intent on getting rid of the A10 program.  Seems like was relatively cheap and pretty effective...?

[1964-M20E]

I do not know.  The A-10 was slated to be retired before the first Gulf war to be replaced by the F-16.  The A-10s performance in the gulf war gave it  a second life.

 

The F-16 while a very capable aircraft I do not believe is well suited for a close ground support role.  The A-10 was specifically designed for low and slow ground support with it's 2 engines placed high and separated from each other it's long heavy straight wing and its heavily armored cockpit for pilot protection and it's 30mm cannon.  I say order another 50 new air frames with updated avionics and increasing the thrust to weight ratio for a little better performance while flying it's mission.  Take the remaining A-10s in inventory and keep the top 50% of these and upgrade them to be identical to the new ones.  Maybe the 30mm cannon is outdated due to newer armor in land vehicles but it would still be effective on other targets.

Just my humble opinion.

 

 

 

 

[AndyFromCB]

54 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

I do not know.  The A-10 was slated to be retired before the first Gulf war to be replaced by the F-16.  The A-10s performance in the gulf war gave it  a second life.

 

The F-16 while a very capable aircraft I do not believe is well suited for a close ground support role.  The A-10 was specifically designed for low and slow ground support with it's 2 engines placed high and separated from each other it's long heavy straight wing and its heavily armored cockpit for pilot protection and it's 30mm cannon.  I say order another 50 new air frames with updated avionics and increasing the thrust to weight ratio for a little better performance while flying it's mission.  Take the remaining A-10s in inventory and keep the top 50% of these and upgrade them to be identical to the new ones.  Maybe the 30mm cannon is outdated due to newer armor in land vehicles but it would still be effective on other targets.

Just my humble opinion.

 

 

 

 

And how will that keep the revolving door of military industrial complex going? You cannot support all that high rank going to work for the defense contractors after they put in their 20 years to rake in their millions with A10 orders. F35 is much better for that. Winning wars is not the primary mission of the Pentagon. Hasn't been since about 1947.

Edited October 31, 2016 by AndyFromCB

[1964-M20E]

By all means we do need to continue developing the latest and greatest fighters and bombers out there as well as the most advanced surface ships and land vehicles.  However, you use the F-35 to gain air superiority and use a large number of the F-22s, 15s & 16s to maintain total air supremacy and then the A-10 can support the ground troops.  A coordinated and efficient attack.

[Guest]

I've always found it interesting to note the diminishing number of aircraft produced with each successive generation of aircraft.  Eventually the U.S. will have the one and only greatest fighter of all times, just one of them, because it will cost the entire budget.

Clarence

[SamB]

The Army did the same thing with the Kiowa Warrior.  They had a cheap, effective, incredibly reliable aircraft and instead of refreshing/upgrading it they got rid of it entirely.  Funny thing about recon is that it requires lots and lots of hours in the air with as many aircraft as you can get up...  Something the much more expensive and finicky Apaches are not so good at.  But the forces that be in our military these days want as much capability packed into an aircraft as possible, which essentially gets you an aircraft and aircrew that can do a little bit of everything but only excels at a select few things.

[flight2000]

Except the Air Force changed their mind finally and will be keeping the A-10.  Smart move IMHO....

http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-keep-a10-indefinitely-2016-10

Brian

[N201MKTurbo]

I had a cousin who was an A-10 pilot. He let me sit in the cockpit and play with all the knobs and switches. He even let me turn on the battery switch so I could make it all light up. He wouldn't let me start he engines or fly it, but I did get to pull the trigger and make machine gun sounds. You can't help your self.

[Bennett]

I was lucky enough to get a hour long "cockpit checkout" in an A - 10 with an AF pilot. Incredible experience. I have no idea how long it takes to learn the functions of all the buttons and knobs on the stick, and the central instruments. In another life I sat in a concrete blockhouse between two Gatling guns, and I can't imagine what it would like flying an A - 10 while firing that same type of Gatling gun.


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