<story><title>Dark spot under cockpit of A-10s</title><url>http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2078/dark-spot-under-cockpit-on-a-10s</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nether</author><text>Thanks for this. I don&amp;#x27;t see why people think 30 mm slugs are effective against tanks designed to resist 120 mm penetrators or shaped charges, including top armor hits. And simply &lt;i&gt;enduring&lt;/i&gt; battle damage is insane against modern MANPADS with large warheads. The A-10, along with the B-17, is one of the most over-romanticized aircraft of all time.</text></item><item><author>ahelwer</author><text>The A-10 is extremely vulnerable to man-portable air defense systems (MANPADs), which are difficult to spot and nearly impossible to avoid at the low altitudes within which the A-10 best performs. MANPADs are more and more common on the modern battlefield, and the supply exploded after the 2011 Libyan Civil War. Furthermore, the GAU-8, while an impressive weapon, doesn&amp;#x27;t hold its own against any tank built within the last twenty years. This leaves the A-10 as a slow, unstealthy delivery platform for AGM-65 Maverick missiles and JDAMs, a role better performed by higher-performance aircraft.&lt;p&gt;I say all that as a huge fan of the A-10c, with many hours spent in the DCS sim. People seem to get bizarrely hyperbolic over the capabilities of this plane, but it&amp;#x27;s really a dinosaur.</text></item><item><author>skywhopper</author><text>The A-10 is a truly amazing airplane, in large part due to the main gun, and has proved its usefulness again and again in real combat situations. Its extended air-to-ground capabilities (which are the vast majority of our air power needs in modern warfare) are unmatched by any other plane or chopper on the armed forces, and for all that it was a remarkably inexpensive plane to build. But despite all that, no new A-10s have been produced in 20 years, they&amp;#x27;re being retired at the rate of two each month, and the Air Force wants to replace them with the debacle that is the F-35.</text></item><item><author>jug6ernaut</author><text>While off topic, i found this interesting bit of information on the a10&amp;#x27;s gun wiki page.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The recoil force of the GAU-8&amp;#x2F;A[16] is 10,000 pounds-force (45 kN),[3] which is slightly more than the output of one of the A-10&amp;#x27;s two TF34 engines (9,065 lbf &amp;#x2F; 40.3 kN each).[17] While this recoil force is significant, in practice cannon fire only slows the aircraft a few miles per hour in level flight.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The gun firing produces more force through recoil on the plane then is produced by one of the plane&amp;#x27;s engines. That is simply amazing.&lt;p&gt;Edit: The guns wiki page(it has a wiki page).&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;GAU-8_Avenger&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Nrsolis</author><text>Jeez.  Tanks?&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re neglecting one of the most valuable roles for the A-10: close air support for ground troops in contact.&lt;p&gt;In that situation (read: the entirety of our conflict in Afghanistan&amp;#x2F;Iraq) tanks had NO ROLE.  You&amp;#x27;re fighting a highly mobile ground force that often have an armament&amp;#x2F;position advantage and that&amp;#x27;s where the A-10 CAS really really makes a difference.  Nobody fought TANKS in Afghanistan.&lt;p&gt;Ask anyone who&amp;#x27;s been in contact with the enemy how they feel when they hear that distinctive &amp;quot;BRRRRRRRAAAAAP!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like FSCKING CHRISTMAS.</text></comment>
<story><title>Dark spot under cockpit of A-10s</title><url>http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2078/dark-spot-under-cockpit-on-a-10s</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nether</author><text>Thanks for this. I don&amp;#x27;t see why people think 30 mm slugs are effective against tanks designed to resist 120 mm penetrators or shaped charges, including top armor hits. And simply &lt;i&gt;enduring&lt;/i&gt; battle damage is insane against modern MANPADS with large warheads. The A-10, along with the B-17, is one of the most over-romanticized aircraft of all time.</text></item><item><author>ahelwer</author><text>The A-10 is extremely vulnerable to man-portable air defense systems (MANPADs), which are difficult to spot and nearly impossible to avoid at the low altitudes within which the A-10 best performs. MANPADs are more and more common on the modern battlefield, and the supply exploded after the 2011 Libyan Civil War. Furthermore, the GAU-8, while an impressive weapon, doesn&amp;#x27;t hold its own against any tank built within the last twenty years. This leaves the A-10 as a slow, unstealthy delivery platform for AGM-65 Maverick missiles and JDAMs, a role better performed by higher-performance aircraft.&lt;p&gt;I say all that as a huge fan of the A-10c, with many hours spent in the DCS sim. People seem to get bizarrely hyperbolic over the capabilities of this plane, but it&amp;#x27;s really a dinosaur.</text></item><item><author>skywhopper</author><text>The A-10 is a truly amazing airplane, in large part due to the main gun, and has proved its usefulness again and again in real combat situations. Its extended air-to-ground capabilities (which are the vast majority of our air power needs in modern warfare) are unmatched by any other plane or chopper on the armed forces, and for all that it was a remarkably inexpensive plane to build. But despite all that, no new A-10s have been produced in 20 years, they&amp;#x27;re being retired at the rate of two each month, and the Air Force wants to replace them with the debacle that is the F-35.</text></item><item><author>jug6ernaut</author><text>While off topic, i found this interesting bit of information on the a10&amp;#x27;s gun wiki page.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The recoil force of the GAU-8&amp;#x2F;A[16] is 10,000 pounds-force (45 kN),[3] which is slightly more than the output of one of the A-10&amp;#x27;s two TF34 engines (9,065 lbf &amp;#x2F; 40.3 kN each).[17] While this recoil force is significant, in practice cannon fire only slows the aircraft a few miles per hour in level flight.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The gun firing produces more force through recoil on the plane then is produced by one of the plane&amp;#x27;s engines. That is simply amazing.&lt;p&gt;Edit: The guns wiki page(it has a wiki page).&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;GAU-8_Avenger&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>stackcollision</author><text>Yes, the A-10 is outdated and couldn&amp;#x27;t tear through the armor of a modern tank like it could to the tanks of Yore.  But you also need to remember that the chain breaks at its weakest link.  A strafing run from the GAU-8 will absolutely shred the tracks, gun, and exterior sensors of anything it comes near.  Sure the crew might live through the concussions and blunt force trauma, but that vehicle is no longer in the fight.</text></comment>