Jeez. Tanks?

You're neglecting one of the most valuable roles for the A-10: close air support for ground troops in contact.

In that situation (read: the entirety of our conflict in Afghanistan/Iraq) tanks had NO ROLE. You're fighting a highly mobile ground force that often have an armament/position advantage and that's where the A-10 CAS really really makes a difference. Nobody fought TANKS in Afghanistan.

Ask anyone who's been in contact with the enemy how they feel when they hear that distinctive "BRRRRRRRAAAAAP!"

It's like FSCKING CHRISTMAS.

I think this needs illustration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYmn_xYB78

My father worked on A-10s in the Air Guard, I thought was very familiar with them... but it wasn't really until I saw that video that I realized how terrifying they are in the appropriate situation. While the above video is a friendly-fire close call, you're probably not going to find video like that from the other side of the line.

Wow, it sounds just like a dragon's roar there. It must have a hell of an effect on morale...

Thanks for posting that video. Very informative!

Yeah, apparently the problem with using high speed jets if they can't hang out close to look out the window and figure which people are the bad guys. Helicopters are too lightly armoured and get shot down and current drones are a bit lightly armed to hold off loads of enemy troops. Maybe in the future when the drones are more like http://youtu.be/zjympX1bxI4?t=18s retiring the A10 would make sense

The problem isn't the drone airframe. It's taking the person OUT of the airframe.

Having that pilot in that seat removes the need to replicate the kind of situational awareness you have when you're flying your plane 100-1000 feet off the ground and making passes to identify who is who so you avoid a friendly fire incident. Until we have the kind of immersive, low-latency, realtime kind of virtual reality you'd need, using drones for CAS is a pipe-dream.

This, right here.

Doing close air support you want A-10 pilots or Marines.

When the Air Force first wanted to retire the A-10, there was an article [1] proposal: Give the A-10s to the Marine Corps.

Even if the machine could not be retrofitted for carrier operations, the Corps could fly them from airfields ashore, and would really value an excellent ground-attack aircraft, and would take good extra-special care of them.

[1] in the Marine Corps Gazette I think.

What about the depleted uranium bullits the A-10 uses? I read they are are threat to friendly ground forces when they cross the fields the A-10 fired up on? Targets hit by the A-10 basically become biohazard... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium

The A-10 can fire lead ammo as well. The uranium stuff is only needed for tank armour.

Ask a soldier or Marine if they'd make that trade. Dead now or dead much much later?

Yes, the A-10 is outdated and couldn't tear through the armor of a modern tank like it could to the tanks of Yore. But you also need to remember that the chain breaks at its weakest link. A strafing run from the GAU-8 will absolutely shred the tracks, gun, and exterior sensors of anything it comes near. Sure the crew might live through the concussions and blunt force trauma, but that vehicle is no longer in the fight.

Sometimes an M-Kill is better than destroying the entire thing because you can target support troops when they bring in a wrecker.

Well yes. Of course 30mm rounds are effective against tanks. It's simply a matter of how MANY you throw at the beast. At 3,000 rounds/minute you can hit the tank up real good.

Secondly, not every enemy has the latest tank. In fact, most potentially hostile nations (speaking from the POV of NATO) do NOT have modern tanks.

>I don't see why people think 30 mm slugs are effective against tanks designed to resist 120 mm penetrators or shaped charges, including top armor hits.

Because tanks only have that sort of armour on their frontal aspect and turret sides, and the top armour is very thin. Even if the turret top is armoured enough it is likely the engine deck can be penetrated and produce a mobility kill.

Also, hardly anyone besides the US and extremely close allies has ultra-modern tanks like late series Abrams or the Challenger II (and I have seen no evidence that those tanks are immune to the GAU-8).

P.S. There are also cheap ways to reduce shape charge effectiveness that don't work against solid penetrators. Things like the TUSK upgrade are designed to defeat RPGs not 30mm cannon.

Most assmetric warfare in current theatres is not fought against tanks of the caliber of the modern western main battle tanks. Until these types of conflicts are unlikely, I don't see why you would prefer an f-35 in CAS vs a comination of A10s and (if really a problem) drones or F16s.

Yep, the A-10c can take a real beating, but there's a huge gap between combat readiness and limping back to base for expensive repairs, assuming you survive the initial SAM strike. Much better to never be hit (or even seen!) in the first place.

Uh huh. You're saying this based on how many deployments?

it's not just the caliber of the ammo, it's also the velocity. I'm certainly not an expert, but I did my military service in a base used for tank training. Back then, it was already a done deal : no armor could resist the amount of energy released by anti-tank ordnance, in particular kinetic penetrators. I've seen up close old tanks which were used for training. On the entry side of the impact you have a perfectly cut circular hole a few cm in diameter, with slits all around like petal flowers. On the exit side you have a big open tear. In between, there was a jet stream of molten metal. Bottom line : a spotted tank is a dead tank.

That was a fairly long time ago, but unless armor has made huge progress since then, producing something hard enough to deflect this kind of force and yet light enough that the tank can move, I'd still bet on an A10 against anything rolling on the ground.

Yeah but that good Armour is on the front of the tank - you know the bit thats radically sloped.

The top of a tank not so much and if you blow a track of that's a mobility kill - almost as good as a full brew up.