An interesting take on the venerable A-10 Warthog, the “Vito Corleone of CAS”: I am going to do something for which I feel very bad; bang an additional nail into the coffin of the A-10 Warthog. I feel bad about this because I hold a deep affinity in my robotic heart for this unspeakably ugly aircraft, an aircraft which has put so many warheads on so many deserving foreheads over this last decade. But the A-10, the Vito Corleone of the manned-strike CAS family, is not long for this world. I’m not of the manned-strike CAS family, but I’m close [...]
JCAS Symposium
If any loyal Op-Forians happen to be at the JCAS Symposium this week, look me up. I’ll be the Marine LtCol with the last name that starts with “P,” wearing lead-sled airborne wings. Beer will flow copiously thereafter.
Prince Harry the JTAC
This was forwarded to me by the guy who let me crash at his place on Emerald Isle for two years, now a fellow ANGLICAN and JTAC, and mutual acquaintance of LtCol P. Looks like I’m in good company in this job. Prince Harry provided air support for UK troops I wish it were all as easy as they make it sound in the article. Then again, if you’re a Prince, maybe it is. Hey, I’ll bet he didn’t get “drop-blocked” by an RCT air officer just before he cleared an aircraft hot. I mean, who’s going to say no [...]
F-35B Lightning-II Reports For Duty
FIRST SHORT TAKEOFF/VERTICAL LANDING STEALTH FIGHTER UNVEILED AT LOCKHEED MARTIN FORT WORTH, Texas, December 18th, 2007 — The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35B Lightning II, the first fighter to combine stealth with short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) capability and supersonic speed, made its debut today amid customers from the United States Marine Corps, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, and the Italian Air Force and Navy. Attendees at the rollout ceremony in Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth assembly plant included Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway. “The flexibility that the STOVL variant of the F-35 will add to the [...]
Upgraded Warthogs
Hershel Smith of The Captain’s Journal has a piece on the upgraded A-10C Warthog. With the new mods, the A-10C now has capabilities nearing those of the AV-8B Harrier. Herschel believes in the A-10 as a counterinsurgency tool. Excuse me if I withold judgment for a while. Update: My entry was cut a bit short, and I didn’t get to elaborate much. Mike points out in the comments that it’s not fair to blame the A-10 drivers for the incident in Nasiriyah. Indeed, the battalion air officer was found to be ultimately culpable for the incident, and as Richard Lowery [...]
