Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!att!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: tkogoma%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Naval use of A-10's
Message-ID: <1991Mar22.041942.19957@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 22 Mar 91 04:19:42 GMT
References: <1991Mar20.034011.1839@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (william.b.thacker)
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Lines: 41
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: tkogoma%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk)
In article <1991Mar20.034011.1839@cbnews.att.com> jimcat@rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak) writes:
> I first noticed this concept when Tom Clancy played with it in
>_The Hunt For red October_, and while I realize that Clancy isn't
>the most accurate source, he does do his homework with respect 
>to military hardware, and the basic idea seems like it just might
>work. The A-10's nap-of-the-earth flying ability would be ideal
>for skimming the seas undetected by radar, and I'd imagine that 
>its tank-killing cannon could play havoc with the lightly armored
>destroyers and frigates of today.
> 
> So would this actually be a feasible concept? I can think of a 
>few reasons why it might not be, such as an anti-ship missile
>doing the job more safely and cheaply than an A-10. But has anyone
>ever seriously looked into the possibilities of using A-10's 
>against small vessels? I'd be interested to hear what people think
>about it, whether it's a good idea or not and why.

Well, the problem with this is what happens *after* your flight of
four A-10s bushwhack a soviet surface action group?  You wreck a
few tin cans and cripple a cruiser or two with you rockeye cluster
bombs and 30mm cannon, then the rest of the task force sends you to
the bottom with SAMs and AAA fire.  You're much too slow to even
*think* of getting out of SAM range before they send them up your
tailpipes, and you armor can't protect you forever.  Esp. from radar
guided 100mm AAA.

Even with the standoff weapons availible to the A-10, you have to fly
into enemy SAM range.

[Note: Most of my 'experience' has been from playing the Harpoon
computer game.  The last time I tried sending 6 F-16s outfitted for
anti-surface work against three soviet DDGs, I managed to sink one,
damage another, and come back with one aircraft...{*sigh*}]

-- 
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk  net.terrorist (reformed) |  This space
tkogoma@triton.unm.edu                       | intentionally
(Known to some as Taki Kogoma)               |  left blank