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Posts: 15195 | Location: Wine Country | Registered: September 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Shackelford
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quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
AQ-9C

35 hours aloft with 2K of laser guided bombs costing less than $7M per plane and when not carrying anything on the wings, can stay aloft 48.2 aloft on recon.

Oh and one pilot can fly four of them half a world away.


There are very fundamental bandwidth problems with drones. (Hence all the interest in both autonomous and follow-the-leader technologies right now.) We are currently using up every drop of commercial and mil satellite bandwidth keeping the drones we currently have in the air & connected. Even with more satellites, RF issues mean there is a limit to how many drones we could maintain at once. And, while persistence of drones is good, they have very limited situational awareness. Finally, these aircraft have better load outs than the biggest drones. The Textron can carry triple the ordinance of a Reaper drone, which is itself several times more than a Predator.
 
Posts: 861 | Location: Volunteer | Registered: January 16, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
posting without pants
Picture of KevinCW
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Depends on what you are fighting...

Technology changes warfare..

In the 80's when we dealt with less AA missiles of the same tech as now, the A 10 was probably king. If AA missles were disabled, the A 10 is probably STILL king...

Now, 30 years later, the A10 would be destroyed before even on "BRRRRTTTTT" was tried....

If tech doesnt' keep up, and plane won't be.

Does that mean the A 10 airfram or plane has no place??? No... but it needs another plane to knock our all communications, AA capability and Anti aircraft fighters first, then let it do the ground attack job similar to the Apache Helicopter, but quicker to the combat zone.

The real mistake IMO, is searching for ONE unit to do the job of many.

Let's use the Air to air fighters to win the skies, then use the stealth air to ground planes to destroy the air to grount abilities of the enemy. THen use the air to ground planes and helicopters to decimate any possible advantage for out ground forces. WHy does their have to be "one" plane to rule them all. Unless you are a worthless bean counter....





Strive to live your life so when you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, the devil says "Oh crap, he's up."
 
Posts: 33288 | Location: St. Louis MO | Registered: February 15, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Ice Cream Man
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It's about encryption and band width - hence, I think, why the ChiComs are messing with quantum communication so much.

Actual quantum communication solves all ills.

Get that done, and he who can mass produce the most wins - what we did to the NAZIs, and what the ChiComs would do to us, unlesss DC gets its head out of its ass tut suite
 
Posts: 6040 | Location: Republic of Ice Cream, Low Country, SC. | Registered: May 24, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I voted for the A-29. I also like the idea of having the Air Tractor as another tool in our toolbox though. I say we get both! They all look like they would be a lot of fun to fly.




Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

 
Posts: 907 | Location: Southwest Michigan | Registered: March 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
SIG's 'n Surefires
Picture of M-11
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Interesting that the contenders are tandem crew:
http://aviationintel.com/it-co...-been-the-a-10b-naw/

http://www.aircraftresourcecen...NAW_A-10/walk369.htm



"Common sense is wisdom with its sleeves rolled up." -Kyle Farnsworth
"Freedom of Speech does not guarantee freedom from consequences." -Mike Rowe
"Democracies aren't overthrown, they're given away." -George Lucas
 
Posts: 6880 | Location: IL, due south of the Arch | Registered: April 20, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Unmanned Writer
Picture of LS1 GTO
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quote:
Originally posted by Shackelford:
quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
AQ-9C

35 hours aloft with 2K of laser guided bombs costing less than $7M per plane and when not carrying anything on the wings, can stay aloft 48.2 aloft on recon.

Oh and one pilot can fly four of them half a world away.


There are very fundamental bandwidth problems with drones. (Hence all the interest in both autonomous and follow-the-leader technologies right now.) We are currently using up every drop of commercial and mil satellite bandwidth keeping the drones we currently have in the air & connected. Even with more satellites, RF issues mean there is a limit to how many drones we could maintain at once. And, while persistence of drones is good, they have very limited situational awareness. Finally, these aircraft have better load outs than the biggest drones. The Textron can carry triple the ordinance of a Reaper drone, which is itself several times more than a Predator.


We're already working that out (RF and SATCOM) plus there's the certifiable aircraft (MQ-9B) coming to an airport near you in the near future.






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



 
Posts: 14257 | Location: It was Lat: 33.xxxx Lon: 44.xxxx now it's CA :( | Registered: March 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by cjevans:
A little bit of thread drift?

... would any of the above listed, provide survival from a catastrophic sequence of events, such as experienced by this A-10 pilot?

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/n...belly-090417186.html



After a routine training run in Alpena County, Michigan in late July, US Air National Guard Capt. Brett DeVries survived the perfect storm of malfunctions to safely land his A-10 Thunderbolt II on its belly without the benefit of landing gear.

During a training exercise where A-10 pilots practice dropping inert bombs and ripping the planes' massive gun, DeVries' gun malfunctioned. Moments later, his canopy blew off his plane as he flew along at 375 miles an hour, according to a US Air National Guard write up of the event.

The incredible winds smacked DeVries head against his seat, nearly incapacitating him. "It was like someone sucker punched me," he said. "I was just dazed for a moment."

DeVries wingman, Major Shannon Vickers, then flew under his plane to assess the damage, finding bad news. The panels under his plane had been damaged, and it was unclear if he would be able to lower his landing gear.

Meanwhile, DeVries struggled against the wind and having everything loose in his cockpit. He could no longer benefit from checklists, which had become a liability that could now potentially fly out and get stuck in his engine.

DeVries, having the flight from hell, had two of his radios go down and had to communicate with Vickers and flight control on his third backup system. They worked together to find him a nearby spot to land and Vickers observed that DeVries would not in fact be able to use his landing gear.

"I just thought, 'There is no way this is happening right now.' It all was sort of surreal, but at the same time, we were 100 per cent focused on the task ahead of us," Vickers said.

Miraculously, thanks to the meticulous training A-10 pilots undergo and the incredibly rugged design of the plane, DeVries walked away unscathed, and maintainers will be able to fix the plane.



The wingman, Major Shannon Vickers, worked for me back in my younger days overseeing the refueling operations at Centennial Aircraft in Battle Creek, MI. I'm glad to see that he is flying A-10's and is a Major in the National Guard. He was responsible, hard working, and an all around good guy. The last I knew he was being prepped for flying C-130's and he was pretty excited about that. I love seeing good people fulfill their dreams. Back then the A-10's were based out of Battle Creek and we all used to drool over them and wish we were the ones in the cockpit. I'm glad this story had a happy ending and it is really cool to see that Shannon made it as a National Guard pilot.




Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

 
Posts: 907 | Location: Southwest Michigan | Registered: March 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Armed and Gregarious
Picture of DMF
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quote:
Originally posted by M-11:
Interesting that the contenders are tandem crew:
http://aviationintel.com/it-co...-been-the-a-10b-naw/

http://www.aircraftresourcecen...NAW_A-10/walk369.htm
I wouldn't read too much into that. Most of these aircraft are based on trainers, that naturally had two seats. Look at the history of the OA-37. While occasionally there would be a two man crew, they were mainly intended to be flown solo, to increase payload. The same would likely be true with these aircraft.


___________________________________________
"He was never hindered by any dogma, except the Constitution." - Ty Ross speaking of his grandfather General Barry Goldwater

"War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want." - William Tecumseh Sherman
 
Posts: 12591 | Location: Nomad | Registered: January 10, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Unmanned Writer
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For those still interested research "algorithmic warfare."

That is the direction of the army. Wink






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



 
Posts: 14257 | Location: It was Lat: 33.xxxx Lon: 44.xxxx now it's CA :( | Registered: March 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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