Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Basically, I don't understand two things.
First, is the A10 no longer capable of the ground support role?. If it is still capable, are the existing A10s too old to keep using? If they are, why isn't rebuilding them the most cost effective solution? If they are beyond rebuilding, why isn't making new A10s the next most cost effective solution? After all, developing a new plane will be very expensive and if the A10 works, why develop a new plane?
Second, why are attack helicopters not well suited to ground support? They can carry anti tank missiles for armor, guns for soft targets. They can loiter, operate at low altitude, operate from primitive bases, fire accurately. They are relatively inexpensive. They are not fast but neither is the A10.
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My wholly unqualified thoughts:
Refurbishing:
Cost effectiveness does not come into play in politics, and fixing old planes does not move around enough money to be politically effective for the politician. Politicians would rather give lucrative new-production contracts to their benefactors.
Everyone likes shiny and new. Including the taxpayers. Try telling them you want to refurbish a fleet of 30 year old airplanes, then every critic will crawl out of the swamps to tell you
how stupid the idea is to fix an obsolete platform.
Helicopters:
Helicopters have relatively high operational costs compared to fixed wing aircraft.
Helicopters have relatively low survivability compared to fixed wing aircraft.
Helicopters are only capable of speeds up to around 180mph, and have a common service ceiling below 20k ft. The A-10 can travel over 400 mph and has a service ceiling of over 40k ft.
I don't think a helicopter could be a GAU 8 platform. Leaving it to only be armed with missiles and smaller calibers means it is no more effective than drones (which are much cheaper).
A Blackhawk helicopter costs more than the final production price of an A-10. (But we would likely not be able to buy new A-10s for the same price as in 1984.)
New A-10s:
Fairchild-Republic is out of business. They were bought by a company that is only interested in product support - not new manufacture. So you would need to convince the design owner to turn it over to a manufacturer - and any manufacturer is probably going to futz up the design with their own
improvements.