Newsgroups: sci.military Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!cbnews!military From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: A-10 vs. A-16 vs. AV-8B for CAS Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 03:22:40 GMT Approved: military@att.att.com Message-ID: <1990Oct19.032240.11902@cbnews.att.com> References: <1990Oct18.021042.6352@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military-request@att.att.com Lines: 20 From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: Allan Bourdius >I've always been curious why the USAF didn't seriously consider the >AV-8B as the A-10's successor (not that the A-10 needs one). Any ideas? The main reason is that the USAF does not want to replace the A-10 with another dedicated CAS aircraft. It wants to replace it with something that can also fly "real" USAF missions, with suitability for CAS a secondary issue. Contributing factors probably include the general bias in most of the US services (the USMC seems to be an exception) against foreign-designed equipment, and the USAF's long-standing official opinion that V/STOL is not a worthwhile approach to combat aircraft. -- "...the i860 is a wonderful source | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology of thesis topics." --Preston Briggs | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry