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From: dragoo@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Stephen P. Dragoo)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Carrier based A10s???!?!
Message-ID: <1991Mar18.134123.17745@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 18 Mar 91 13:41:23 GMT
References: <1991Feb26.011655.5357@cbnews.att.com> <1991Feb28.050855.8085@cbnews.att.com> <1991Mar15.033854.6212@cbnews.att.com>
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From: dragoo@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Stephen P. Dragoo)
In article <1991Mar15.033854.6212@cbnews.att.com> operator@desire.wright.edu writes:
>> Just out of sheer curiousity, what would prevent the use of A10s in the
>> role of Marine CAS missions??  Obviously there are the problems of
>> saltwater and the other vagaries of carrier launchers, but is it totally
>> out of the question for some other reason?
>	I think that A-10's would be entirely too heavy for carrier operations. 
>I may be wrong about their weight but a carrier couldn't carry too many to say
>the least.  By their nature as close support and attack aircraft they are very
>heavily armored.  I have heard some refer to them as tanks with wings, but they
>have to be because they come under so much fire.  Compared to A-6's or A-7's I
>don't know how much more they might weigh, but they are very heavy.
>
>	The Air Force may be snobbish about their planes and no one knows the

I'm not from Fairchild-Rep., but I do know a lot about A-10's.
Personally, weight shouldn't be a problem.  Consider this: the "never-exceed"
weight of an A-10(which is never reached, normally) is 50000lbs--roughly 25
tons.  A fully-loaded Tomcat maxes out around 70000lbs--35 tons.  Even with
the normal Air-to-Air load, it's still about 56000lbs--28 tons.
If they can carry and launch Tomcats, there should be no problem.

Granted, the USMC is hooked on the Harrier.  The Harrier is a nasty little 
devil in and of itself, especially the II.  The bad thing about the A-10
is that it doesn't have any real air-to-air capability, like the Harrier.

On the other hand, instead of making a new plane to replace the A-6, how about
navalizing the A-10?  The Navy could use it on their decks and from bases,
since they do that anyway, and the USMC could also use it, since THEIR A-6's
need a supercarrier or a base also.

What do you guys think?
-- 
===============================================================================
The Golden Dragon            dragoo@hpuxa.acs.ohio-state.edu
Taking his flames like a man...er...dragon!
"I know this ship like th' back o' my hand....*Klonk!*"  Montgomery Scott, STV "Kroger, your pledge name is..Pinto.   Why Pinto?  *body function*Why not!?"    Bluto(future Senator Blutowsky) and Kroger, Animal House