Yep. I liked Tyler and we got along really well at first but we constantly went to war over the F-35. To the point where I wouldn’t read his F-35 articles and if I did and commented, he’d ignore that. There were about half a dozen of us that really criticized him for over embellishing problems and completely…

Very, very rarely do I ever see these folks back up any of this nonsense. It’s a quick, whine about the F-35 (usually using monetary figures exceeding $200 million per copy), and then back to Huffington Post/Gawker central or wherever they come from.

It’s a moronic conclusion. It’s primary mission strike, it will be exemplary at. Secondary mission, DEAD/SEAD it will be undoubtedly, the best the world has ever seen. Third mandate and the one it may be doing the most of, is air-to-air and CAS. CAS it will be fine. I’ve told these idiots 1000 times that the A-10 was…

Dude...congrats.

No, but I had a TACP/CCT within whispering distance 99% of the time.

What are you talking about? They were initially pulled out of the fight against Daesh specifically for that reason. Then reintroduced when it was realized the MANPAD threat was minimal.

Against soft-targets, no...not really. Where the GAU-8 really shines though is hard targets. Shy of something like an AC-130, it’s about the only aircraft mounted cannon that can shred a main battle tank. And that’s not because of the 30mm. It’s because of the GAU-8 30mm. The A-10 is 30mm x 173mm. Meanwhile, the 30mm…

Compete with how? Against what kind of targets? Your question is a bit too vague.

No but it’s not supposed to. The A-10 was designed around it’s gun. In an age where precision weapons were a rarity.

I wonder if an inability to survive over anything other than a sterilized AO is also cute?

No, development. In the 1960s and 1970s 65% of air-to-air kills were achieved with the gun. Meanwhile missile PKs were routinely under 20%. Fast forward to 1990 and onwards and gun kills have accounted for 2%, while missile kills account for 99% of the rest. Missiles that routinely exceed 90% PK.

I watched CAS performed dozens of times without a gun. When we needed air we didn’t stipulate that the aircraft on station had to make a gun run first. I didn’t even see the deploying aircraft in about half of those scenarios.

Thank you. This whole A-10 vs F-35 for CAS argument is utterly moronic.

What’s your point? Comparing the two is moronic.

Except ya know, the plethora of IR guided SAMs of all shapes and sizes...

SDB has already been used in combat. Prolifically. For a decade. SDB II is what the hype is about.

Dirt dart is just parachutists wings. Mustard stain means you’ve jumped into combat. A small gold star in the middle of the parachutists badge is added to it. Hence the name.

There were a very few guys like that when I enlisted in 2000. They very quickly were retiring though. Had one for a 1st Sergeant for about 6 months. He was a pretty amazing guy. When he get his mustard stains in Panama and Grenada he was the only black soldier in regiment. That was still the case when he was my 1st…

Where’d he get the mustard stain? Panama or Grenada with Regiment?

You’re a fucking idiot. It’s stunning on so many levels.