Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: raymond@io.ame.arizona.edu (Raymond Man)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: A-10 Thunderbolt
Message-ID: <10370@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 19 Oct 89 03:33:12 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: AME Dept., Univ. of Arizona at Tucson
Lines: 29
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: raymond@io.ame.arizona.edu (Raymond Man)


	Whether the USAF praise or blame an aircraft
depends on their current budget request strategy, and
has little to do with the merits of the machine itself.

	I think Ray Braybrook (who knows this gentleman?) said
the whole A-10 concept revolved around the 30mm canon (which
proved to be a bit draggy). He also doubted the ability
of the canon to penetrate the frontal armour of the latest
tanks and wondered if it would worth the exposure to 
maneuver into position for a side attack.

[mod.note:  Never heard of him, myself.  I think he misses the point.
	No, I doubt that the 30mm will penetrate a T-72's front armor;
	but if you've ever seen a demo film of this gun firing, the
	incoming rounds literally fall like rain, hitting every
	exposed part of the tank which, from any reasonable angle of
	attack, includes the thin deck armor.  - Bill ]

	With so much smart autonomous anti-tank munitions
coming up, probably a low and fast (unmanned?) platform
will be sufficed, I think.

Just call me `Man'. Uh-oh. I don't know.
raymond@jupiter.ame.arizona.edu