Air Force considers scrapping A-10s, KC-10s, F-15Cs and CSAR helos (Army, Navy)
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I know the Air Force was suffering becuase of budget cuts, but I think its foolish to cut the A-10 and CSAR helos. If the Air Force doesn't want the A-10s let the Army get them. Also if this goes through do you think we will finally see a new BRAC round. I don't see how bases like Moody or Davis-Monthan could survive without the A-10 and CSAR missions.
Giving the Army the A-10 would need a change in the laws/regs/whatever that limit it to helos. They've also been trying to get rid of them for a couple decades.
The F-15, while upgraded, is an old design. They have to justify the F-22 and F-35 (which I predict is gong to be a disaster for the Navy. It is already turning out to be incredibly difficult to trap on the arresting wires).
BRAC will hit even more bases in the coming years. The two you mentioned? Most likely.
You're definately right about it requiring a change in the law. In this week's Air Force Times, there was an article discussing the AF's plan and how there have been some talks behind closed doors about this happening. Also a BRAC will most likely happen by 2017. By then the mid-term and presidential elections will be over and congress will probably be more receptive to the idea. Personally I think we need another BRAC. The AF and Army have too much infrastructure. I would love to see bases like Goodfellow and Ellsworth finally closes. Also if Moody did get the ax, the Navy should atleast consider making it their new East Coast Master Jet Base. NAS Oceana doesn't have a viable future IMO. If the Navy does decide to base their East Coast F-35 fleet there, the people of Virginia Beach would be up in arms over the noise of those jets. Also the folks in the surrounding Virginia and North Carolina counties haven't been too receptive to the Navy plans to build a new OLF. Moody and South Georgia/North Florida won't have the same issues that NAS Oceana has with development encroachment and areas to practice. Also its just not financially viable to build a new base on the East Coast from scratch.
As a former A-10 guy this makes me happy. As a Airman I worked on A's in Korea and then as an Officer I had the unfortunate displeasure of being a AMU flight commander with C models.
The A-10 has outlived it's usefulness and the C model upgrade has made it a buggy crappy analog-digital hybrid system with zero reliability. Every day of my life I had to hear. Your MC rates are shameful, what are we doing about hangar queens?, why can't we order new CICU's?, why your people so incompetent? Why are there so many CAN jets? why are so manyguns jamming? Why are JDAMs hanging? Then they found giant cracks in the gear housings and they all had to go to AMARG. Every day I'd listen to the radio when they squaked in. Line 7 code 2 MAV. Line 9 code 3 MFD, Line 10 code 3 JDAM, Line 12 code 3 hung BDU, Line 13 code 2 Targeting Pod, Line 14 code 3 Anti Skid. I mean just every day was depressing knowing almost every single jet was broken and the ones that weren't would be cannibalized to fix the ones that were, which made zero sense.
Single mission aircraft like the A-10 are crap. The C model is a failure. It's weapons systems are joke (but the gun is bad ass.... yeah, when it doesn't shred itself to pieces) the chutes on the gun are a patchwork of brittle alloys made in the 1970's. the conveyor belts are old and brittle and reused too many times. One little hickup in the timing or slack and the damn thing disinigrates, leaving punctured rounds and twisted poorly welded wire frames jamming through components.
It's been rebuilt and patched up so many times nothing on it is new and it wasn't a very well thought out plane from the get go. The wiring is old, brittle and soaked with hydraulic fluid. No one seems to know anything about the electronics or the systems, people who knew something about it, PCSed or gave up once it became the C model. A few bright Staffs that actually knew what was going on or how to fix it left or got out entirely because they were working with skeleton crews and working 13 hour shifts in the hot desert sun and had it with the over all suck.
F-15 Cs are worthless. AIM120s a few 9's a tiny 20mm and some chaff/flare. What are you going to do with that? Our enemy is a gang of hajis with AK47s in a 1986 Toyota pickup. And we don't need 120 15C's to shoot down 14 ragged Mig-21's.
KC10s, well do you see DC-10s in passenger service? Look up the safety record of the DC-10 / MD-11.
The Army has tons of helicopters, the Air Force needs exactly 0 rotary aircraft.
If I had unlimited funds and could get a fighter plane to fly for fun, the A-10 would be my choice, because of its ability to fly tight circles around anything near the ground. It always seemed like it would be a riot to fly one. And I am not even a pilot. But, like I said, if I had unlimited funds and could get one, I would learn to fly just for that reason.
[ Also if this goes through do you think we will finally see a new BRAC round. I don't see how bases like Moody or Davis-Monthan could survive without the A-10 and CSAR missions.
As the number of AF airframes shrinks, it is very likely that we'll see another round of base closures. However, just because base A loses its aircraft to the boneyard doesn't mean that base will be targeted; it could be very easy to move another type of aircraft from base B to base A, then close base B. In theory, the BRAC should be a very straightforward process, depending on the relative utility of bases. In practice, it is a politicized mess.
Last edited by Okie7597; 10-11-2013 at 09:45 PM..
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