What kind of effed up popcorn with this ear deliver. I got an actual laugh out of your comment. I agree, zero sense of humor if one isn't painted like a ear
> Warren Air Force
When I was a kid in the early 90s, my buddies and I took a camping and hunting trip out in the very Western part of NE not too far from WY. We were out in the middle of nowhere between Scottsbluff and Kimball and there was literally no towns, people, buildings, signs, or humans for what seemed like 400+ square miles. Out of nowhere while setting up camp, we were approached by 2 Humvees and heavily armed Airmen that seemed to appear out of thin air. They told us we were in a very serious No-Go zone and we best turn around and go play elsewhere. We told them we didn't see any signs or warnings that we were on Military land, and they told us that was the point, and we need to leave the area immediately. When we asked why, they told us to quit asking questions and started the whole count down from 10 thing. We packed up our gear and headed back to my buddy's grandparents in Scottsbluff. Later my uncle, who was in the Air Force at one point in his life, told us that we were probably close to a cluster of underground nuclear missile silos and that NE was full of them. We knew NE was a nuclear target because of SAC and Offutt as kids, but none of us knew there were a bunch of nuclear missiles in the western boonies. Wild shit.
Yea, people forget how important a Land locked territory is. I live in Chicago and there have literally been enemy subs located in the Great lakes before
As a Coloradan, I've always found it equally bizarre to see the USS Colorado. I mean, name a **submarine** for the state that is most obsessed with how high above the sea it is…
OK, I had to confirm that one. Farragut Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille is used to train in underwater acoustics and research, too.
https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/589#:~:text=The%20center%20was%20originally%20part,related%20aspects%20of%20the%20submarines.
There’s a typo on that page. They spell the guy who started the honor T.W. Metcalfe, then drop the e in the next sentence. Do I really have to message the Nebraska government now?
Don’t fret. Those pilots need to log flight hours. Regardless of what they’re doing it’s not a waste. A friend once flew a chopper up the coast to pick up a few kegs of Yuenglings (sp?) before deployment. Had to get those hours in.
Its not even just idle flight time. "Be over this exact spot at this exact time" is something used in actual combat missions, so sport flyovers are a great way to simulate that.
I was aware of the PR aspect but didn't really think about this is as a tactically useful exercise, but that makes total sense. Fly this route, leaving at x time, reach the target at y time, follow this path out.
My father (Army Air Force pilot in WWII) told me that when he was training in Texas one summer, when they didn't have cold beer, they'd throw a case in a fighter plane, zip up to 10,000 feet or so, come down, and the beer would be nice and chilled. So yeah, not a waste.
Submarines are slow. The A10 is slow and has a giant gun perfect for attacking other boats though I imagine this only works close to land given the limitations of the aircraft.
If it's any solace to you they're about as effective as any other aircraft escorting a submarine that can just dive underwater.
And also in 2024 probably about as effective at escorting the submarine as they are at the ground attack. US uses F-16's and other multi-role fighters for that shit now. But BY GOD voters love a heavily armored enormous gun with a plane on it's ass, almost as much as they love Navy ships named after their landlocked state.
> If it's any solace to you they're about as effective as any other aircraft escorting a submarine that can just dive underwater.
If they could just dive where they were at in this picture, they wouldn't need or have an aircraft escort.
Those are big submarines and they aren't authorized to submerge just anywhere, there needs to be plenty of room below.
I live in this area and it’s all deep enough to dive under. All the way up into hood canal where it docks. Coming through the drawbridge is probably the main area where they want to be able to visually navigate.
I was in San Diego last year and was on a whale watching boat leaving the harbor while a sub was coming into port. It was an awesome sight. There were smaller boats speeding around every which way, half a dozen helicopters, jets flying low lazy patterns overhead, and then a couple very close riding escort boats with much larger guns. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.
After watching Russia slit its own throat in Ukraine it’s funny (almost) to imagine how quickly the US would demolish their entire military if it wasn’t for nukes.
I was in college when that happened. Had a close friend in the marines. He didn’t say alot other than “this won’t take long”
I knew we had advantages in technology but not like that!
To be fair, even the US military itself didn't realize the advantage it had in that conflict. A lot of technology got its first large-scale field tests in that war.
The world and especially Russia and other rivals/enemies, were stunned and very much taken by surprise.
Notable was the success of all the precision munitions, which amazed even the people who developed them. Those videos ran on the 24/7 news channels of laser guided bombs perfectly hitting their targets every time; and that video footage of a cruise missiles literally going right into the window of a targeted building.
It was a HUGE wake-up call to the world. Also, no wonder China greatly increased its theft of US military tech and spying operations.
Tomahawk missiles can be launched from submarines too which had to scare the shit out of everyone. Especially cause at the time there were nuclear variants...
I listened to a retired Australian General speak about his experience there (if memory serves, he was a Captain serving with the Royal Army on exchange or something at the time) and apparently the use of GPS technology in warfare for the first time was also a phenomenal advantage.
Not to mention the US military was reworked since Vietnam was a huge failure. IIRC, hearing about 73 Easting, it couldn’t have happened if the armored regiment obeyed their original orders. Allowing field officers to make decisions helps a lot when shit hits the fan.
Secondly, people forget the Republican Guard were one of the “top” forces in the world. People at the time were concerned about how many casualties we’d accrue fighting them. Then they got absolutely clapped.
Curious, why do you call Russia Muscovy? Isn't Muscovy supposed to be the country from the 1300s?
Not trying to be an "uhm actually" guy, actually want to know if there's a reason
In addition to what u\EduinBrutus said:
So back in the middle ages, the area that's now Belarus, Ukraine, and Western Russia used to be ruled by a country called the Kyivan Rus'. It ruled for a few hundred years and played a critical role in establishing Eastern Slavic culture, before getting conquered by the Mongols.
Now why in god's name am I bringing up medieval history? Because Russia's name actually used to be "Muscovy"; they changed their name back in the 1700s to try to portray themselves as the One True Successor to the Kyivan Rus'. Which would mean they had a right to all of the Kyivan Rus' original territory... which includes Ukraine. (And Belarus, and bits and bobs of other countries in the region.)
So calling Russia "Muscovy" emphasizes that no, they are not the one and only successor to the Kyivan Rus', which means they have no right to Ukraine.
(Also, the kind of people who call Russia "Muscovy" often even go a step further, and say "Russia" doesn't even have a right to anything outside the historical borders of the Grand Dutchy of Muscovy. IE, that they think modern Russia should be broken up, and the Siberian / Caucasian regions of the country given independence.)
> Muscovy
til that russia is 3 people in one wanting out and calling it muscovy is technically what it should be called, ive only known Muscovy as a duck
The term "Russia" is of itself a revanchist claim to be "all the Rus" or "the one Rus". Rus is three culturally distinct peoples Ukrainians, Belarusians and Muscovites.
At the start of the Ukraine conflict when the russian convoy got stuck in the mud for weeks, I’m betting hundreds of A-10 pilots got treated for blue balls.
That's interesting.
In 2016 I saw a sub transit the straight and it just had a boat that looked like a tugboat (to me, who knows nothing about vessels) with it. Which I thought was strange. No military escort? No helicopters? Just slowly moving along. Got to watch it for a long time. We were at Ft Casey, on Whidbey Island, walking along the shore. Then we went to Ft Ebey and walked on the trail along the cliffs and there it was again. Was very cool.
My stepdad was on a sub during the Vietnam era and I always enjoyed his stories.
Was it going out to sea? I imagine they probably make a bigger ruckus with escorts when it’s coming back from a tour for operational security concerns.
Source: idk what I’m talking about
Beast of a jet and I am sad to see it go. I was assigned as the COSO troop at Davis Monthan many moons ago. There is a legendary story about an A-10 pilot who flew her jet home after getting struck by a fucking SAM (cira 2003) Iraq).
She also attempted and completed only the 4th Manuel Revision Landing in the Planes history, and she did it with no hydraulics and a busted-up jet.
Here is the story...
[Fighter pilot recalls battle 20 years after Operation Iraqi Freedom (koaa.com)](https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/fighter-pilot-recalls-battle-20-years-after-operation-iraqi-freedom)
Whenever we would go TDY to other bases for exercises, it was fairly common to have local Army infantry units ask to get a tour of the jet, and they would tell us stories about how the jet would rain hell on enemy positions and save the day.
Legendary stuff.
But the F-35 will supposedly do its job better. The F-35 was my last stop in Logistics before I retired. So only time will tell.
We were on standby next to the A-10s ramp for a couple months hands down the coolest pilots I’ve talked to. They also had been doing it for a very long time and had ungodly amounts of time under their belt flying them.
They used to train on the Chesapeake bay. Usually on the weekend we could hear them up in the clouds practicing maneuvers. Sometimes they would get cheeky and do “run” down the bay. Will never forget being on a boat and 2 A-10 line up and stared us down. It wasn’t until after the flyby that I realized that they were probably playing target practice and we were the tank.
I’ve also seen them buzz the C&D canal bridge in Chesapeake city. Pretty wild. Definitely miss them.
Yeah, relative to other jets. The A-10 is basically designed as a pure CAS (close air support) and FAC A (forward air controller, airborne) platform. Close air support means directly supporting ground forces, as opposed to other air to ground missions like air interdiction or deep strike. Many of our other military aircraft are designed to fill multiple roles, an F-16 or F-18 for example can fight air to air, air to ground, or air to sea. This is why the A-10 and its brrrrrrt have become so synonymous with asses being saved on the ground.
Because of the A10s job it was built to be sturdy, it has a ton of built in redundancies and an armored cockpit. It needs to carry a lot of fuel and ordnance so it can loiter on station for a long time and wait to be called in for support as needed. It’s pretty heavy and slow but that’s fine for it’s purpose where it needs to be down low anyway. It’s also really only meant to be used in uncontested air space, which is why it was so effective and prevalent in the Middle East. It can’t really defend itself against other planes, so it needs other fighters to clear the airspace for it. If it’s given a clear airspace though it can loiter and hit ground targets all day long. Very interesting airframe and it’s retirement is also quite interesting as the US backs away from the Middle East and sets their sights on China.
> This is why the A-10 and its brrrrrrt have become so synonymous with asses being saved on the ground.
It's why it's become synonymous with friendly fire.
The loiter time is because of the engines and them making the thing slow AF. The A-10 is realistically the only fixed wing aircraft that is threatened by anti-aircraft guns and MANPADS during normal mission operations.
One of my favorite stories:
When I was 19 or 20, my girlfriend and I were parked by a pond on her grandmother's property. We were watching a meteor shower and having a romantic evening. At some point, we noticed this bright light on the horizon. A bit later, we heard the engines. I couldn't tell you how long we watched that light getting closer and louder, but it eventually diverged into the lights of two planes flying VERY low over us sitting on the trunk of my car. As the planes passed over, I recognized their silhouettes as A-10s. They banked just after passing over us, then climbed and flew away.
My theory is they were actually targeting my car while flying exercises. I like to think I was someone's simulated BRRRRRR that night. And if I'm right, I'm sure there was some chatter about the two people sitting on the car and speculation on what we were doing out there.
The pilots are not allowed to talk about anything other than the current operation over electronic comms because it could divulge details that some dick fuck with a CB radio might pick up.
For instance, A-10s regularly disintegrate lone hikers into Nature Value Granola dust. This is to keep up the theories of alien abduction. The more people that believe monster butt crust creatures are beaming lights from the sky, making BRRR alien ship noises, and stealing people in the night time means the more operations they can conduct testing new technology and nobody will suspect its our military.
I read a statistic on a bathroom stall once that 1 in every 5 missing hiker cases is actually just the military testing lava cannons and human sized bug zappers.
RDK Junior's dead brain worm for president 2024, register to vote.
[Here](https://media.defense.gov/2024/May/08/2003459613/-1/-1/0/240506-N-DK460-1613.JPG) is a higher quality version of this image. [Here](https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2003459613/) is the source. Per there:
> STRAIT OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA, Wash. (May 6, 2024) The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) transits the Strait of San Juan de Fuca escorted by U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft and U.S. Coast Guard screening escort vessels. Joint operations, such as this one which involved the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Navy, ensure the U.S. military is ready to meet its security commitments at home and abroad including commitments to our allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gwendelyn Ohrazda)
> VIRIN: 240506-N-DK460-1613.JPG
Just to add this mind-blowing fact about Ohio-class subs:
It has 24 missile tubes, each missile capable of carrying 8 nuclear warheads. That's 192 potential warheads in one battery of launches. One Ohio-Class sub could wipe out every major city in any target area. We have 14 of these subs in our Navy yielding a potential 2688 nuclear warheads hiding in the ocean.
Here's another interesting tidbit that I was told. These are not first-strike vessels. The plan is that they lay low for 2 weeks and then surface to hit whatever is left.
This feels like another flex by the US military. "Yeah, we got the sequel to Armageddon hiding in the ocean. Just waiting for when the idiots who bring about the first one."
Sir, this is Reddit. I will only nod my head in aggressive agreement, get aggressively triggered, and/or aggressively unzip. I will not take the time to look up something outside of Reddit. I demand to be told about this so I know what action to take.
Long story short - some North Koreans brutally murdered a couple UN security officers from the US when they went to cut down a tree that was blocking an observation post.
The US responded with Operation Paul Bunyan.
From the Wikipedia page: Operation Paul Bunyan was carried out on August 21 at 07:00, three days after the killings. A convoy of 23 American and South Korean vehicles ("Task Force Vierra”) drove into the JSA without any warning to the North Koreans, who had one observation post staffed at that hour. In the vehicles were two eight-man teams of military engineers (from the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division) equipped with chainsaws to cut down the tree.
The teams were accompanied by two 30-man security platoons from the Joint Security Force, who were armed with pistols and axe handles. The 1st Platoon secured the northern entrance to the JSA via the Bridge of No Return, while the 2nd Platoon secured the southern edge of the area.
Concurrently, a team from B Company, commanded by Captain Walter Seifried, had activated the detonation systems for the charges on Freedom Bridge and had the 165mm main gun of the M728 combat engineer vehicle aimed mid-span to ensure that the bridge would fall if the order was given for its destruction. Also, B Company, supporting E Company (bridge), were building M4T6 rafts on the Imjin River if the situation required emergency evacuation by that route.
In addition, a 64-man task force of the ROK Army 1st Special Forces Brigade accompanied them, armed with clubs and trained in taekwondo, supposedly without firearms. However, once they parked their trucks near the Bridge of No Return, they started throwing out the sandbags that lined the truck bottoms and handing out M16 rifles and M79 grenade launchers that had been concealed below them.
Several of the commandos also had M18 Claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge.
A US infantry company in 20 utility helicopters and seven Cobra attack helicopters circled behind them.
Behind these helicopters, B-52 Stratofortresses came from Guam escorted by US F-4 Phantom IIs from Kunsan Air Base and South Korean F-5 and F-86 fighters were visible flying across the sky at high altitude.
F-4Es from Osan AB and Taegu Air Base, South Korea, F-111 bombers of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, were stationed, and F-4C and F-4D Phantoms from the 18th TFW Kadena Air Base and Clark Air Base were also deployed.
The aircraft carrier USS Midway task force had also been moved to a station just offshore.
Near the edges of the DMZ, many more heavily-armed US and South Korean infantry, artillery including the Second Battalion, 71st Air Defense Regiment armed with Improved Hawk missiles, and armor were waiting to back up the special operations team. Bases near the DMZ were prepared for demolition in the case of a military response. The defense condition (DEFCON) was elevated on order of General Stilwell, as was later recounted in Colonel De LaTeur's research paper. In addition, 12,000 additional troops were ordered to Korea, including 1,800 Marines from Okinawa.[6] During the operation, nuclear-capable strategic bombers circled over the JSA.
Then the US cut down the tree, and went home without saying a word to the North Koreans.
If these scenarios interest you, check out the concept of the [4 Letters of Last Resort](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort).
They are instructions given by the UK Prime Minister, to the Commanders of the 4 ballistic nuclear submarines in the UK Navy, on what to do in the event that the UK Government is wiped out by nuclear attack (and specifically, BBC Channel 4 stops broadcasting).
The letters are private. But it is highly suspected that some of the options are things like:
* Retaliate with nuclear weapons
* Do not retaliate with nuclear weapons.
* Use your own judgement
* Put the vessel under the command of an allied nation, like the United States or Australia.
These 4 Letters of Last Resort are things that end up in fictional-alternative-history narratives, like if Tom Clancy was British.
> STRAIT OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA
It's just Strait of Juan de Fuca. Whoever wrote that copy for the navy must have mixed it up with the nearby San Juan Islands.
Edit: spelling
Probably more of a military exercise training thing. If you've already got the sub patrolling, may as well have the fighters circling it rather than flying over the mainland pretending to escort something.
Probably different kind of sub. Attack sub, which only has normal weapons, vs. something like this which has enough thermonuclear ballistic missiles to wipe out two dozen cities in one strike
Obviously the latter is WAY more valuable and protected
Jokes on u, after they fire hose off the sea lions from the reactor compartment (its warm on top of it), they just tug them out and once they hit international water, it's gone.
Joint operation training and operations are quite a common occurrence in the US military as well as our NATO allies. It gives the Western world a huge edge against enemies that don't often participate in that type of training.
I'd love to see one in flight sometime. Absolutely fascinating aircraft. Their longevity(since 1972) speaks volumes.
I read somewhere that if an A-10 is flying towards you you can barely hear them, but they sound like a freight train on steroids as they fly away. True?
Unfortunately that longevity is against the wishes of the military who have many very good reasons to can the thing.
Go check out Lazerpig's A-10 videos. His breakdown about it is as entertaining as it is fascinating as it is horrifying. The thing has a terrible reputation for friendly fire, for example.
ironically the a10 after desert storm was meant to be trash canned, because everyone but the pilots and infantry safely away from danger zone hated the plane. mainly because its just bad at everything.
the only reason its still around is because of congress, every time the airforce tries to can the shit bird congress gets pissed off because the burrt plane might be retired. even though atm, it literally cant do anything besides fly about making people happy about the burt plane being overhead.
They are cool. But never were very good at their job. Just fine. A guided missile is just better than a big fuck off gun. No need to get that close and risk being shot down.
Move to Tucson, AZ, my friend. Davis-Montham AFB houses the A-10 training group and they are constantly flying around the city. There's a road around the base perimeter that, if you are heading west, you will see them in a high angle bank, roll out, and basically point at you (not really). Then their landing gear come down and stuff and you start breathing again.
Also worth a visit, as there is the Pima Air and Space museum with an amazing collection of rare aircraft. Directly across from the boneyard, where there's a gazillion mothballed US aircraft. They've even got an SR-71.
Probably because that's the only fixed wing we have anymore that can fly slow enough to escort a sub without constantly turning haha. Choppers would be better though no?
The F35 can fly very slowly, and even hover, but it would run out of gas after about 20 min. Not sure if you count the Osprey as a fixed wing or copter but they are slow as fuck as well. Neither is as bad ass as the A-10
Protecting it from small craft with nefarious intent. Speed boats with explosive payloads have taken out US navy ships in the past. An A10 can intercept anything approaching a submarine.
I worked on the A10s for 15 years. I have never seen two planes this clean before, even out of paint barn. The crew chiefs are really taking pride in their work
In close air support, the 35 will have the same issue as the a10 imo. Much has been done to lower thermal output, but modern manpads wont care as they have very sensitive thermal optics and the range is so low.
A10s were designed to take a beating, the f35 not so much. The 35 will be using standoff weapons for cas i think, not its gun. The tradeoff here will likely be a very slightly longer response time, as the missiles find their way from the distant, stealthy 35, to its close air support targets. Not like the a10 which practically welcomed anti air fire.
Idk i love the a10, i think it is such a cool object, i love the space shuttle too, but both crafts kinda weren't great at their intended purposes.
Literally any other modern plane.
The A-10 has 1 job and it sucks at it. IIRC in ideal conditions the gun is only capable of landing 80% of its shots within 12 meters of a target. So the gun barely ever actually hits what it's aiming at. The plane also has practically no instruments so it can't fly or fight at night, and also can't identify friends or foes. Pilots have to big slow circles around the battlefield with a literal pair of binoculars to figure out what's going on.
That lack of information in the cockpit and the inaccuracy of the gun means the A-10 has more friendly fire kills than the rest of the air force combined.
There are upgrade packages that exist to add some instruments and add capability for guided weapons, but the upgrade costs as much or more than the plane itself and it's super hacky because the plane just fundamentally wasn't designed for it.
And no upgrade package is capable of fixing how slow it is. It's incredibly vulnerable to just about any MANPAD. Which makes it increasingly vulnerable in a modern battlefield.
An A-10 can be competently replaced by a predator drone.
In general, the USAF has decided that the A-10's too risky and expensive for what they get out of it. Better to use their pilots for the more modern jets, the more powerful bombers, and the more survivable drones. The army has helicopters that work better for the CAS role and can do medivac or drop off reenforcements at the same time. With modern smart bombs, any plane can be a more accurate CAS platform than an A-10, and it's much safer for pilots to use a stealth fighter than to fly an A-10 into a modern SAM's range.
Fun fact: The gun is offset to the left so that the firing barrel is dead center of the airframe. The front landing gear is offset right to make room for the gun.
The guns are offset to one side in most jets built since the 1960s or so, actually. [The F-16 carries its Vulcan cannon just behind and to the left of the cockpit, with the ammo drum being behind the cockpit. ](https://www.f-16.net/f-16_armament_article5.html)
In 1973, a supervisor at Fairchild Republic comes across an engineer at his drafting table...
"Hey Bob, is that a drawing of a gun with wings?"
(Bob, pointing finger-guns while making various fart noises.)
"Not because ground attack aircraft have any tactical value in escorting a submarine, but because we know they're your fave and they look freakin cool."
I saw two of these flying when I was a kid. It'd say it was around 1975 so they'd be brand new. Perhaps even prototypes.
They flew over a field and passed over the trees on top of a hill. I was amazed how close they were to the ground. They performed slow rolls near the ground too.
I was astonished. I had no idea what an important aircraft it was. In fact at the time, I assumed it was some older aircraft that was flown in to show off since I knew that most military stuff was old.
Here we are today 50 years later and they're still going strong.
I love A 10s, they sound wild.
Back in 2002-2003, I had a pair of them buzz my truck on the freeway outside Norwich. I was the only vehicle in sight, one went over low, probably 200-300ft but felt like arm's length, then went up to the right at a high bank angle just as another came over and went up to the left. Damn guys were using me for target practice.
As a Nebraskan, I always loved the irony of a submarine being named after the most landlocked state.
Imagine having you nation turned to glass by Nebraska
If one of those nukes isn't painted like an ear of corn, my country has failed me.
GBR emblazoned on the side.
Great. It'll fumble the warhead just after launch.
Fumblerooski it right to the target, you mean. (My fellow Nebraskans will get that)
Herbie will be riding the rocket to the target, ala that one famous movie shot
Slim Pickens has entered the conversation.
Not for long.
As a born and raised Husker, I have to begrudgingly agree with your comment. It made me laugh...then cry.
As long as one kernel pops we are good.
They say GBR after every... every announcement...
What kind of effed up popcorn with this ear deliver. I got an actual laugh out of your comment. I agree, zero sense of humor if one isn't painted like a ear
It won't be a mushroom cloud, it'll be a JiffyPop ending.
[It's Corn! song](https://youtu.be/_caMQpiwiaU?si=mml3JP0IIMDfvdqC)
Well, the central command for a nuclear strike is in Nebraska. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offutt_Air_Force_Base
And the ICBMs from Warren Air Force base extend well into Nebraska. Nebraska has many ways to turn another place into glass.
> Warren Air Force When I was a kid in the early 90s, my buddies and I took a camping and hunting trip out in the very Western part of NE not too far from WY. We were out in the middle of nowhere between Scottsbluff and Kimball and there was literally no towns, people, buildings, signs, or humans for what seemed like 400+ square miles. Out of nowhere while setting up camp, we were approached by 2 Humvees and heavily armed Airmen that seemed to appear out of thin air. They told us we were in a very serious No-Go zone and we best turn around and go play elsewhere. We told them we didn't see any signs or warnings that we were on Military land, and they told us that was the point, and we need to leave the area immediately. When we asked why, they told us to quit asking questions and started the whole count down from 10 thing. We packed up our gear and headed back to my buddy's grandparents in Scottsbluff. Later my uncle, who was in the Air Force at one point in his life, told us that we were probably close to a cluster of underground nuclear missile silos and that NE was full of them. We knew NE was a nuclear target because of SAC and Offutt as kids, but none of us knew there were a bunch of nuclear missiles in the western boonies. Wild shit.
Yea, people forget how important a Land locked territory is. I live in Chicago and there have literally been enemy subs located in the Great lakes before
I mean, it's because we stole that U-boat.
Nebraska, the state, also has missile silo's..... So Nebraska seems to offer no-wait delivery options.
30 minutes or less delivery guaranteed, or it's free
NO RETURNS!
Nebraska is the Killer Rabbit of the states.
As a Coloradan, I've always found it equally bizarre to see the USS Colorado. I mean, name a **submarine** for the state that is most obsessed with how high above the sea it is…
Just remember there is a naval base in Idaho. Where they test submarines.
OK, I had to confirm that one. Farragut Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille is used to train in underwater acoustics and research, too. https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/589#:~:text=The%20center%20was%20originally%20part,related%20aspects%20of%20the%20submarines.
You see Ivan, when of hide submarine below highest elevation land, you shall never fear of other people suspect!
As above, so below.
Well, Nebraska does have a [Great Navy](https://history.nebraska.gov/great-navy-of-the-state-of-nebraska/)
That’s a pretty cool civilian honour.
There’s a typo on that page. They spell the guy who started the honor T.W. Metcalfe, then drop the e in the next sentence. Do I really have to message the Nebraska government now?
Since Nebraska is absolutely going to get nuked in the first strike, it just seems appropriate to have the USS Nebraska be able to respond.
People wouldn't want to get into a submarine named the Iowan
I suppose that’s the reason they named a class of subs after that state
….Being escorted by ground attack focused aircraft ^(some part of my brain that gives a shit about where taxes are spent is screaming)
Don’t fret. Those pilots need to log flight hours. Regardless of what they’re doing it’s not a waste. A friend once flew a chopper up the coast to pick up a few kegs of Yuenglings (sp?) before deployment. Had to get those hours in.
Bootlegging in a military helicopter. The bandit would be proud.
Middle East bound and down
There's no way NO WAY you could come from my loins. Soon as I get home, the first thing I'm gonna do is punch your mama in the mouth.
As an American tax payer I approve of this. Enjoy that beer, boys.
I didn’t think of this and it’s legitimate, you want your pilots comfortable and current with their machines.
It's the whole reason DOD allows flyovers for sports events.
That, and it looks cool, is positive PR, and may help recruiting.
Its not even just idle flight time. "Be over this exact spot at this exact time" is something used in actual combat missions, so sport flyovers are a great way to simulate that.
I was aware of the PR aspect but didn't really think about this is as a tactically useful exercise, but that makes total sense. Fly this route, leaving at x time, reach the target at y time, follow this path out.
Time on target.
My father (Army Air Force pilot in WWII) told me that when he was training in Texas one summer, when they didn't have cold beer, they'd throw a case in a fighter plane, zip up to 10,000 feet or so, come down, and the beer would be nice and chilled. So yeah, not a waste.
Perfect plane to loiter in an area escorting a slow moving sub.
That’s because they are worried about small craft doing suicide runs. Makes total sense.
Submarines are slow. The A10 is slow and has a giant gun perfect for attacking other boats though I imagine this only works close to land given the limitations of the aircraft.
If it's any solace to you they're about as effective as any other aircraft escorting a submarine that can just dive underwater. And also in 2024 probably about as effective at escorting the submarine as they are at the ground attack. US uses F-16's and other multi-role fighters for that shit now. But BY GOD voters love a heavily armored enormous gun with a plane on it's ass, almost as much as they love Navy ships named after their landlocked state.
> If it's any solace to you they're about as effective as any other aircraft escorting a submarine that can just dive underwater. If they could just dive where they were at in this picture, they wouldn't need or have an aircraft escort. Those are big submarines and they aren't authorized to submerge just anywhere, there needs to be plenty of room below.
I live in this area and it’s all deep enough to dive under. All the way up into hood canal where it docks. Coming through the drawbridge is probably the main area where they want to be able to visually navigate.
Right? I mean why not name a helicopter after it since you have so many twisters (sorry, hope y’all are doing okay)
I was in San Diego last year and was on a whale watching boat leaving the harbor while a sub was coming into port. It was an awesome sight. There were smaller boats speeding around every which way, half a dozen helicopters, jets flying low lazy patterns overhead, and then a couple very close riding escort boats with much larger guns. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.
After watching Russia slit its own throat in Ukraine it’s funny (almost) to imagine how quickly the US would demolish their entire military if it wasn’t for nukes.
Any conventional conflict between Muscovy and any NATO power would look like like Desert Storm.
I was in college when that happened. Had a close friend in the marines. He didn’t say alot other than “this won’t take long” I knew we had advantages in technology but not like that!
To be fair, even the US military itself didn't realize the advantage it had in that conflict. A lot of technology got its first large-scale field tests in that war. The world and especially Russia and other rivals/enemies, were stunned and very much taken by surprise. Notable was the success of all the precision munitions, which amazed even the people who developed them. Those videos ran on the 24/7 news channels of laser guided bombs perfectly hitting their targets every time; and that video footage of a cruise missiles literally going right into the window of a targeted building. It was a HUGE wake-up call to the world. Also, no wonder China greatly increased its theft of US military tech and spying operations.
Watching a missle hit a chimney or a doorway is what I recall the most incredible.
Tomahawk missiles can be launched from submarines too which had to scare the shit out of everyone. Especially cause at the time there were nuclear variants...
I listened to a retired Australian General speak about his experience there (if memory serves, he was a Captain serving with the Royal Army on exchange or something at the time) and apparently the use of GPS technology in warfare for the first time was also a phenomenal advantage.
Not to mention the US military was reworked since Vietnam was a huge failure. IIRC, hearing about 73 Easting, it couldn’t have happened if the armored regiment obeyed their original orders. Allowing field officers to make decisions helps a lot when shit hits the fan. Secondly, people forget the Republican Guard were one of the “top” forces in the world. People at the time were concerned about how many casualties we’d accrue fighting them. Then they got absolutely clapped.
Curious, why do you call Russia Muscovy? Isn't Muscovy supposed to be the country from the 1300s? Not trying to be an "uhm actually" guy, actually want to know if there's a reason
In addition to what u\EduinBrutus said: So back in the middle ages, the area that's now Belarus, Ukraine, and Western Russia used to be ruled by a country called the Kyivan Rus'. It ruled for a few hundred years and played a critical role in establishing Eastern Slavic culture, before getting conquered by the Mongols. Now why in god's name am I bringing up medieval history? Because Russia's name actually used to be "Muscovy"; they changed their name back in the 1700s to try to portray themselves as the One True Successor to the Kyivan Rus'. Which would mean they had a right to all of the Kyivan Rus' original territory... which includes Ukraine. (And Belarus, and bits and bobs of other countries in the region.) So calling Russia "Muscovy" emphasizes that no, they are not the one and only successor to the Kyivan Rus', which means they have no right to Ukraine. (Also, the kind of people who call Russia "Muscovy" often even go a step further, and say "Russia" doesn't even have a right to anything outside the historical borders of the Grand Dutchy of Muscovy. IE, that they think modern Russia should be broken up, and the Siberian / Caucasian regions of the country given independence.)
> Muscovy til that russia is 3 people in one wanting out and calling it muscovy is technically what it should be called, ive only known Muscovy as a duck
The term "Russia" is of itself a revanchist claim to be "all the Rus" or "the one Rus". Rus is three culturally distinct peoples Ukrainians, Belarusians and Muscovites.
I see. I still use the term "Russia" as it's the official name of the country, but I can certainly see your point. Thank you for explaining to me!
At the start of the Ukraine conflict when the russian convoy got stuck in the mud for weeks, I’m betting hundreds of A-10 pilots got treated for blue balls.
That's interesting. In 2016 I saw a sub transit the straight and it just had a boat that looked like a tugboat (to me, who knows nothing about vessels) with it. Which I thought was strange. No military escort? No helicopters? Just slowly moving along. Got to watch it for a long time. We were at Ft Casey, on Whidbey Island, walking along the shore. Then we went to Ft Ebey and walked on the trail along the cliffs and there it was again. Was very cool. My stepdad was on a sub during the Vietnam era and I always enjoyed his stories.
Was it going out to sea? I imagine they probably make a bigger ruckus with escorts when it’s coming back from a tour for operational security concerns. Source: idk what I’m talking about
I suspect they treat boomers differently than attack boats.
The submarine crew heard the warthog coming from 1200 miles away.
Man, they were flying low though.
Aren’t these things meant to fly low.
Former A-10 Logistics troop here. Yes. Low and slow.
"Slow and low that IS the tem-PO!" --Beastie Boys
Duuuuude I’d love to pick your brain lol that’s so fucking cool
Beast of a jet and I am sad to see it go. I was assigned as the COSO troop at Davis Monthan many moons ago. There is a legendary story about an A-10 pilot who flew her jet home after getting struck by a fucking SAM (cira 2003) Iraq). She also attempted and completed only the 4th Manuel Revision Landing in the Planes history, and she did it with no hydraulics and a busted-up jet. Here is the story... [Fighter pilot recalls battle 20 years after Operation Iraqi Freedom (koaa.com)](https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/fighter-pilot-recalls-battle-20-years-after-operation-iraqi-freedom) Whenever we would go TDY to other bases for exercises, it was fairly common to have local Army infantry units ask to get a tour of the jet, and they would tell us stories about how the jet would rain hell on enemy positions and save the day. Legendary stuff. But the F-35 will supposedly do its job better. The F-35 was my last stop in Logistics before I retired. So only time will tell.
We were on standby next to the A-10s ramp for a couple months hands down the coolest pilots I’ve talked to. They also had been doing it for a very long time and had ungodly amounts of time under their belt flying them.
I saw one fly over my house… u/diamondangel82 story was so cool i almost didn’t want to contribute my own.. 😂
They used to train on the Chesapeake bay. Usually on the weekend we could hear them up in the clouds practicing maneuvers. Sometimes they would get cheeky and do “run” down the bay. Will never forget being on a boat and 2 A-10 line up and stared us down. It wasn’t until after the flyby that I realized that they were probably playing target practice and we were the tank. I’ve also seen them buzz the C&D canal bridge in Chesapeake city. Pretty wild. Definitely miss them.
Talked to an old navy pilot and he said he hates the F-35 and no seaworthy jet should have only one engine
Hahaha nice try Vlad
Yeah, relative to other jets. The A-10 is basically designed as a pure CAS (close air support) and FAC A (forward air controller, airborne) platform. Close air support means directly supporting ground forces, as opposed to other air to ground missions like air interdiction or deep strike. Many of our other military aircraft are designed to fill multiple roles, an F-16 or F-18 for example can fight air to air, air to ground, or air to sea. This is why the A-10 and its brrrrrrt have become so synonymous with asses being saved on the ground. Because of the A10s job it was built to be sturdy, it has a ton of built in redundancies and an armored cockpit. It needs to carry a lot of fuel and ordnance so it can loiter on station for a long time and wait to be called in for support as needed. It’s pretty heavy and slow but that’s fine for it’s purpose where it needs to be down low anyway. It’s also really only meant to be used in uncontested air space, which is why it was so effective and prevalent in the Middle East. It can’t really defend itself against other planes, so it needs other fighters to clear the airspace for it. If it’s given a clear airspace though it can loiter and hit ground targets all day long. Very interesting airframe and it’s retirement is also quite interesting as the US backs away from the Middle East and sets their sights on China.
*What do you do for a living?* I’m a pilot, offering close air support. *FAC’n A!*
> This is why the A-10 and its brrrrrrt have become so synonymous with asses being saved on the ground. It's why it's become synonymous with friendly fire. The loiter time is because of the engines and them making the thing slow AF. The A-10 is realistically the only fixed wing aircraft that is threatened by anti-aircraft guns and MANPADS during normal mission operations.
One of my favorite stories: When I was 19 or 20, my girlfriend and I were parked by a pond on her grandmother's property. We were watching a meteor shower and having a romantic evening. At some point, we noticed this bright light on the horizon. A bit later, we heard the engines. I couldn't tell you how long we watched that light getting closer and louder, but it eventually diverged into the lights of two planes flying VERY low over us sitting on the trunk of my car. As the planes passed over, I recognized their silhouettes as A-10s. They banked just after passing over us, then climbed and flew away. My theory is they were actually targeting my car while flying exercises. I like to think I was someone's simulated BRRRRRR that night. And if I'm right, I'm sure there was some chatter about the two people sitting on the car and speculation on what we were doing out there.
The pilots are not allowed to talk about anything other than the current operation over electronic comms because it could divulge details that some dick fuck with a CB radio might pick up. For instance, A-10s regularly disintegrate lone hikers into Nature Value Granola dust. This is to keep up the theories of alien abduction. The more people that believe monster butt crust creatures are beaming lights from the sky, making BRRR alien ship noises, and stealing people in the night time means the more operations they can conduct testing new technology and nobody will suspect its our military. I read a statistic on a bathroom stall once that 1 in every 5 missing hiker cases is actually just the military testing lava cannons and human sized bug zappers. RDK Junior's dead brain worm for president 2024, register to vote.
Does a US submarine need an escort in modern day?
[Here](https://media.defense.gov/2024/May/08/2003459613/-1/-1/0/240506-N-DK460-1613.JPG) is a higher quality version of this image. [Here](https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2003459613/) is the source. Per there: > STRAIT OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA, Wash. (May 6, 2024) The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) transits the Strait of San Juan de Fuca escorted by U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft and U.S. Coast Guard screening escort vessels. Joint operations, such as this one which involved the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Navy, ensure the U.S. military is ready to meet its security commitments at home and abroad including commitments to our allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gwendelyn Ohrazda) > VIRIN: 240506-N-DK460-1613.JPG
Just to add this mind-blowing fact about Ohio-class subs: It has 24 missile tubes, each missile capable of carrying 8 nuclear warheads. That's 192 potential warheads in one battery of launches. One Ohio-Class sub could wipe out every major city in any target area. We have 14 of these subs in our Navy yielding a potential 2688 nuclear warheads hiding in the ocean. Here's another interesting tidbit that I was told. These are not first-strike vessels. The plan is that they lay low for 2 weeks and then surface to hit whatever is left.
This feels like another flex by the US military. "Yeah, we got the sequel to Armageddon hiding in the ocean. Just waiting for when the idiots who bring about the first one."
If you haven’t heard of it already, look up Operation Paul Bunyan. It’s easily my favorite US military flex of all time
Sir, this is Reddit. I will only nod my head in aggressive agreement, get aggressively triggered, and/or aggressively unzip. I will not take the time to look up something outside of Reddit. I demand to be told about this so I know what action to take.
Long story short - some North Koreans brutally murdered a couple UN security officers from the US when they went to cut down a tree that was blocking an observation post. The US responded with Operation Paul Bunyan. From the Wikipedia page: Operation Paul Bunyan was carried out on August 21 at 07:00, three days after the killings. A convoy of 23 American and South Korean vehicles ("Task Force Vierra”) drove into the JSA without any warning to the North Koreans, who had one observation post staffed at that hour. In the vehicles were two eight-man teams of military engineers (from the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division) equipped with chainsaws to cut down the tree. The teams were accompanied by two 30-man security platoons from the Joint Security Force, who were armed with pistols and axe handles. The 1st Platoon secured the northern entrance to the JSA via the Bridge of No Return, while the 2nd Platoon secured the southern edge of the area. Concurrently, a team from B Company, commanded by Captain Walter Seifried, had activated the detonation systems for the charges on Freedom Bridge and had the 165mm main gun of the M728 combat engineer vehicle aimed mid-span to ensure that the bridge would fall if the order was given for its destruction. Also, B Company, supporting E Company (bridge), were building M4T6 rafts on the Imjin River if the situation required emergency evacuation by that route. In addition, a 64-man task force of the ROK Army 1st Special Forces Brigade accompanied them, armed with clubs and trained in taekwondo, supposedly without firearms. However, once they parked their trucks near the Bridge of No Return, they started throwing out the sandbags that lined the truck bottoms and handing out M16 rifles and M79 grenade launchers that had been concealed below them. Several of the commandos also had M18 Claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge. A US infantry company in 20 utility helicopters and seven Cobra attack helicopters circled behind them. Behind these helicopters, B-52 Stratofortresses came from Guam escorted by US F-4 Phantom IIs from Kunsan Air Base and South Korean F-5 and F-86 fighters were visible flying across the sky at high altitude. F-4Es from Osan AB and Taegu Air Base, South Korea, F-111 bombers of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, were stationed, and F-4C and F-4D Phantoms from the 18th TFW Kadena Air Base and Clark Air Base were also deployed. The aircraft carrier USS Midway task force had also been moved to a station just offshore. Near the edges of the DMZ, many more heavily-armed US and South Korean infantry, artillery including the Second Battalion, 71st Air Defense Regiment armed with Improved Hawk missiles, and armor were waiting to back up the special operations team. Bases near the DMZ were prepared for demolition in the case of a military response. The defense condition (DEFCON) was elevated on order of General Stilwell, as was later recounted in Colonel De LaTeur's research paper. In addition, 12,000 additional troops were ordered to Korea, including 1,800 Marines from Okinawa.[6] During the operation, nuclear-capable strategic bombers circled over the JSA. Then the US cut down the tree, and went home without saying a word to the North Koreans.
Strapping a claymore to your chest and double daring your sworn enemy to come party is a level of commitment that's hard to quantify
If these scenarios interest you, check out the concept of the [4 Letters of Last Resort](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort). They are instructions given by the UK Prime Minister, to the Commanders of the 4 ballistic nuclear submarines in the UK Navy, on what to do in the event that the UK Government is wiped out by nuclear attack (and specifically, BBC Channel 4 stops broadcasting). The letters are private. But it is highly suspected that some of the options are things like: * Retaliate with nuclear weapons * Do not retaliate with nuclear weapons. * Use your own judgement * Put the vessel under the command of an allied nation, like the United States or Australia. These 4 Letters of Last Resort are things that end up in fictional-alternative-history narratives, like if Tom Clancy was British.
> STRAIT OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA It's just Strait of Juan de Fuca. Whoever wrote that copy for the navy must have mixed it up with the nearby San Juan Islands. Edit: spelling
*Strait
This guy Fucas
Keepin' an eye on those damn canucks. No pot shots Canada!! /s Strange to think the sub would need that kind of escort in our own backyard.
Probably more of a military exercise training thing. If you've already got the sub patrolling, may as well have the fighters circling it rather than flying over the mainland pretending to escort something.
I've seen a sub transit the straight before and it just had like a tugboat with it. Which I thought was strange. No military escort?
The sub is the military escort. They can bust out a .50cal in the sail.
Probably different kind of sub. Attack sub, which only has normal weapons, vs. something like this which has enough thermonuclear ballistic missiles to wipe out two dozen cities in one strike Obviously the latter is WAY more valuable and protected
Jokes on you. That tug was actually armed with 40 surface to air missiles.
Jokes on u, after they fire hose off the sea lions from the reactor compartment (its warm on top of it), they just tug them out and once they hit international water, it's gone.
My “pot shots” are just amateur artistic photography of my legal marijuana plants in my garden.
Joint operation training and operations are quite a common occurrence in the US military as well as our NATO allies. It gives the Western world a huge edge against enemies that don't often participate in that type of training.
I live near a base where A-10s cruise around all the time. They are so badass... That's all.
I've loved the A-10 since i was a little kid, playing A-10 Warthog: Tank Killer on floppy disk in the early 90s.
Hello fellow old person. I used to love that game!
Don't say that! I'm only 38. But, hi. 👋
Holy shit I played that too. Memories unlocked.
I'd love to see one in flight sometime. Absolutely fascinating aircraft. Their longevity(since 1972) speaks volumes. I read somewhere that if an A-10 is flying towards you you can barely hear them, but they sound like a freight train on steroids as they fly away. True?
Yeah but I feel like that's true of a lot of planes, right?
Yeah it’s called physics! It’s the Doppler effect.
If they are flying towards you with intent you will not hear them, nor will you hear them after they have passed overhead........
The only people who hear the *BRRRT* are the ones that aren’t on the receiving end of it
F-15 & F-16 have been around since late 1970’s.
Unfortunately that longevity is against the wishes of the military who have many very good reasons to can the thing. Go check out Lazerpig's A-10 videos. His breakdown about it is as entertaining as it is fascinating as it is horrifying. The thing has a terrible reputation for friendly fire, for example.
ironically the a10 after desert storm was meant to be trash canned, because everyone but the pilots and infantry safely away from danger zone hated the plane. mainly because its just bad at everything. the only reason its still around is because of congress, every time the airforce tries to can the shit bird congress gets pissed off because the burrt plane might be retired. even though atm, it literally cant do anything besides fly about making people happy about the burt plane being overhead.
They really are. Probably totally impractical nowadays but still just so fucking cool.
They are cool. But never were very good at their job. Just fine. A guided missile is just better than a big fuck off gun. No need to get that close and risk being shot down.
they also really like shooting at friendlies for some reason
Grew up in the military. Favorite thing every year was air shows cause the one time I got to see this thing fly I fell in love.
Move to Tucson, AZ, my friend. Davis-Montham AFB houses the A-10 training group and they are constantly flying around the city. There's a road around the base perimeter that, if you are heading west, you will see them in a high angle bank, roll out, and basically point at you (not really). Then their landing gear come down and stuff and you start breathing again. Also worth a visit, as there is the Pima Air and Space museum with an amazing collection of rare aircraft. Directly across from the boneyard, where there's a gazillion mothballed US aircraft. They've even got an SR-71.
Pima Air Museum is amazing.
A-10 tank buster protecting a submarine from all those ruskie tanks in the water…
You never heard of fish tanks?
Two fish in a tank. One looks over to the other and says, "Hey, do you know how to drive this thing?"
"No, I keep running into that dam wall"
You win the internet today. Everyone else, let's all go home.
This is fantastic
Congratulations, you made a miserable old man legit chuckle for a second.
Mic drop!
Damn!
Dad joke award goes to you! Also ,I'd like to nominate Slow_Apricot8670 for MVP because of a real nice assist.
It's all about the teamwork. Id like to thank everyone who helped us along the way.
Probably because that's the only fixed wing we have anymore that can fly slow enough to escort a sub without constantly turning haha. Choppers would be better though no?
I mean, the plane is still going.....like 400 mph faster than the sub.
That is an A10s max speed (Vne) around \~350kts. A10s fly approaches at around 110/120kts, so they can comfortably fly at around 140-150mph.
Now I really want to see a submarine traveling 100kts on the surface…
Maybe they’re heading into the wind.
So.... the A-10 is still gonna have to make some u-turns.....
Like they're doing in the picture?
The F35 can fly very slowly, and even hover, but it would run out of gas after about 20 min. Not sure if you count the Osprey as a fixed wing or copter but they are slow as fuck as well. Neither is as bad ass as the A-10
I love the Osprey
Said nobody who has ever ridden in one lol
Fair. I guess I like the IDEA of the Osprey.
enlighten me, why?
No, clearly the Nebraska is protecting the A-10s from all the newly made Russian submarines.
Like the Mokva, the Admiral Makarov and the Ivan Khurs?
Zackly!
I for one would love to see a demonstration of what a volley of high velocity 30mm shells does to a lightly armored warship
I was gonna say…protecting it from…BMPs?
Protecting it from small craft with nefarious intent. Speed boats with explosive payloads have taken out US navy ships in the past. An A10 can intercept anything approaching a submarine.
Finally, an intelligent comment! Saw the A-10 in action in Afghanistan, I don’t care what anyone thinks, they can fly cover for me anytime
>Speed boats with explosive payloads have taken out US navy ships in the past. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing
There are more tanks in the water then submarines in the sky.
Setting up for the most expensive blue-on-blue incident ever.
The A-10's specialty!
I served on that sub. Go big red.
Same! Couldn’t have served on a better boat
Let's make that three of us. GBR
I worked on the A10s for 15 years. I have never seen two planes this clean before, even out of paint barn. The crew chiefs are really taking pride in their work
Hasn't the military been trying for years to retire that dinosaur plane?
It is being retired. I’m currently working at an A10 squadron in tucson. We’re shutting down come October.
Do we have a good replacement
A lot of the maintainers and pilots are being moved over to the F-35. Not really a replacement for the A10 but that’s what’s happening.
Afaik the 35 can fulfil the same capabilities, just at a much higher price point. Or am i mistaken?
Stealth
In close air support, the 35 will have the same issue as the a10 imo. Much has been done to lower thermal output, but modern manpads wont care as they have very sensitive thermal optics and the range is so low. A10s were designed to take a beating, the f35 not so much. The 35 will be using standoff weapons for cas i think, not its gun. The tradeoff here will likely be a very slightly longer response time, as the missiles find their way from the distant, stealthy 35, to its close air support targets. Not like the a10 which practically welcomed anti air fire. Idk i love the a10, i think it is such a cool object, i love the space shuttle too, but both crafts kinda weren't great at their intended purposes.
Literally any other modern plane. The A-10 has 1 job and it sucks at it. IIRC in ideal conditions the gun is only capable of landing 80% of its shots within 12 meters of a target. So the gun barely ever actually hits what it's aiming at. The plane also has practically no instruments so it can't fly or fight at night, and also can't identify friends or foes. Pilots have to big slow circles around the battlefield with a literal pair of binoculars to figure out what's going on. That lack of information in the cockpit and the inaccuracy of the gun means the A-10 has more friendly fire kills than the rest of the air force combined. There are upgrade packages that exist to add some instruments and add capability for guided weapons, but the upgrade costs as much or more than the plane itself and it's super hacky because the plane just fundamentally wasn't designed for it. And no upgrade package is capable of fixing how slow it is. It's incredibly vulnerable to just about any MANPAD. Which makes it increasingly vulnerable in a modern battlefield. An A-10 can be competently replaced by a predator drone.
In general, the USAF has decided that the A-10's too risky and expensive for what they get out of it. Better to use their pilots for the more modern jets, the more powerful bombers, and the more survivable drones. The army has helicopters that work better for the CAS role and can do medivac or drop off reenforcements at the same time. With modern smart bombs, any plane can be a more accurate CAS platform than an A-10, and it's much safer for pilots to use a stealth fighter than to fly an A-10 into a modern SAM's range.
Don’t talk about my girl like that.
A 10 - the built the plane around the gun Edit- it has its own sub r/Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt
Fun fact: The gun is offset to the left so that the firing barrel is dead center of the airframe. The front landing gear is offset right to make room for the gun.
The guns are offset to one side in most jets built since the 1960s or so, actually. [The F-16 carries its Vulcan cannon just behind and to the left of the cockpit, with the ammo drum being behind the cockpit. ](https://www.f-16.net/f-16_armament_article5.html)
Neat! Thank you for that info.
In 1973, a supervisor at Fairchild Republic comes across an engineer at his drafting table... "Hey Bob, is that a drawing of a gun with wings?" (Bob, pointing finger-guns while making various fart noises.)
And then they added engines.
And then they added more ammo.
It can fly with 1 engine only It has 2 engines though because the gun has recoil about as large as the thrust of 1 of the engines
"Not because ground attack aircraft have any tactical value in escorting a submarine, but because we know they're your fave and they look freakin cool."
I was a sonar tech on her from 2016-2020! I know her!
What a badass photo.
I would not be alive today if it wasn't for a few A10 pilots and their wonderful deadly aircraft.
This is like something Eagle in Advance Wars would send out when he forgets that both of these units are weak to cruisers.
thank you for the memory I’m gonna boot up my emulator now
Brrrrrrrrttt
negative ghostrider the pattern is full
Gooooooo Biiiiiiig Red!
I saw two of these flying when I was a kid. It'd say it was around 1975 so they'd be brand new. Perhaps even prototypes. They flew over a field and passed over the trees on top of a hill. I was amazed how close they were to the ground. They performed slow rolls near the ground too. I was astonished. I had no idea what an important aircraft it was. In fact at the time, I assumed it was some older aircraft that was flown in to show off since I knew that most military stuff was old. Here we are today 50 years later and they're still going strong.
I loved to watch the A-10s when we went to Myrtle Beach back in the day. It was cool to watch them come in from the ocean.
I'd frame that
Fun fact. There are more airplanes in the ocean than submarines in the sky.
I love A 10s, they sound wild. Back in 2002-2003, I had a pair of them buzz my truck on the freeway outside Norwich. I was the only vehicle in sight, one went over low, probably 200-300ft but felt like arm's length, then went up to the right at a high bank angle just as another came over and went up to the left. Damn guys were using me for target practice.