Never thought of that!

[Yogimus]

Here is the thing:

While a 1000lb bomb tends to solve problems rather abruptly, oft times it is overkill. Habib Alabim shooting at soldiers from an uparmored falafel stand for example wouldn't require multi ton ordnance. 1000lb of 40MM grenades coming down at 200 a minute would solve the same problem in a much more elegant fashion.

I suppose I just really want to see a 2-gun spooky concept. A prop driven bush plane with a 1000lb carry weight able to loiter for a few hours, and take off from behind an armored column. Put a belly turret on it with a MK19 and an M2, some fancy stabilizers and optics, and put two pilots in that sucker. I wonder if there is a plane able to do that.



Hell, imagine a biplane with a modern engine and electronics on today's battlefield. 1000 meters up, it may as well be a flying Abrams tank.

[Greg]

Here is the thing:

While a 1000lb bomb tends to solve problems rather abruptly, oft times it is overkill. Habib Alabim shooting at soldiers from an uparmored falafel stand for example wouldn't require multi ton ordnance. 1000lb of 40MM grenades coming down at 200 a minute would solve the same problem in a much more elegant fashion.

I suppose I just really want to see a 2-gun spooky concept. A prop driven bush plane with a 1000lb carry weight able to loiter for a few hours, and take off from behind an armored column. Put a belly turret on it with a MK19 and an M2, some fancy stabilizers and optics, and put two pilots in that sucker. I wonder if there is a plane able to do that.

The Marines more or less call that a 'Cobra'.

[Aesop]

The Army would be happier than pigs in shit if we simply brought back the A-1 Skyraider, and transferred tem and all A-10 and AC-130 assets to Big Green in perpetuity (along with a suitable fraction for the USMC Air Wings), as should have been done decades ago.
The USAF guys who fly and maintain both would probably happily transfer across, and if not, there is no shortage of people who would pick up that slack without a peep.


Then the Air Force could go back to misrouting nukes and cheating on missile tests, and no one would notice.
It seemed to run orders of magnitude better when it was SAC, TAC, MAC, and the ATC pipeline for same, and copilots couldn't tell wing commanders to eff off when they were caught boinking their squadron mates.
Almost like it was a military organization or something.

[Jericho941]

If I went blue-to-green, I'd get as far away from aviation as possible.

Really though, if the Army got back into fixed-wing combat aircraft, thirty seconds later it would suddenly dawn on Congress that the Army desperately needs to have a fast CAS asset (which of course must be low-observable to aid in clandestine operations) and welcome them to the JSF party with the F-35D. Comanche II: The Comanchening begins.

But even if that didn't happen, and the logistical miracle of restarting production on aircraft that have been out of production for thirty years or more happens, the Army wouldn't get better use out of them because their force structure is FUBAR. When you've got aviation units that are part of an intel unit, under an infantry unit, priorities go way beyond "jacked up." That's what they're dealing with now, mostly with their UAV units. Nobody knows how to talk to each other and capabilities are misunderstood at best.

[PawPaw]

I've always thought that the Army needed a long-loiter, strong, gun platform. Maybe something along the lines of the old Skyraider, upgraded with whatever the pilot needs. Maybe a 30mm cannon and a couple of M2s for strafing.

How about outfitting a Texan II with a titanium bathtub for the pilot and backseater, and upgun it? It's already in the inventory, and everyone is familiar with it.

Of course, the last time I looked, the Army had plenty of helicopters. How about modifying a Chinook to the Spooky concept? Coupl'a big roll-up doors on the side with minigun mounts. You can land those things anywhere.

[Aesop]

GMTA Paw Paw. Scroll up.

And Jericho is right, there's currently no clue how to run a railroad any longer at the five-sided puzzle palace.
I keep hoping to open the paper to find that it's all disappeared in a giant VA sinkhole with no survivors, and am daily disappointed to find no such salvation for the military, or the republic.

[D5CAV]

Of course, the last time I looked, the Army had plenty of helicopters.

The US Army leads the world in rotary wing technology. We do it because we have to, not because it's the best solution to the problem.

Helicopters are very good for what they are designed to do. They are not good for long loiter. They require 2x to 5x as much maintenance as an equivalent fixed wing asset for the same number of operating hours.

I'm not sure about bringing back the Skyraider, but all the A10s should belong to the US Army.

One aircraft that should be in the US Army inventory is the old U10 Helio Super Courier. That was the last fixed wing aircraft the USAF let the US Army keep. I know some old guys who were initially US Army U10 pilots in Vietnam, but were transferred to the USAF when it became politically unacceptable for even a single engine prop plane to be used by US Army.

The USAF quickly ended the career of the U10, even though my pilot buddies tell me they could land and take off out of any helicopter LZ with one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helio_Courier

Longer range, longer loiter, and quieter than a UH1. It could be maintained out of mud fields at firebases, which the UH1 could not.

It had fixed wings, so US Army couldn't have it.

It didn't have a jet engine, so the USAF didn't want it.

[Odahi]

As one of the "Last of the Mohicans," I commend to you:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mdl_ph ... 328709355/

The OV-1D Mohawk. Yet another Army fixed-wing platform, I never saw one armed, although they did have plenty of places to hang stuff off of them. I've seen photos of armed Mohawks, but the ones I worked on were camera platforms. We at Ft. Huachuca were the last ones in the US, leaving the last operational Mohawks in S. Korea after ours were given to Argentina. I have some fond, and some not-so-fond memories of that bird. Imagine if you will, a tiny hatch in the belly, granting ingress to the tail boom, where an unfortunate sod replaces autopilot actuators in the Arizona heat, with attendant cursing and singed flesh. Not enough room to turn around, nor to get to a position where one could actually see the safety wire being applied to the actuator mounting bolts. Plenty of things to burn you, cut you, or entangle you. It was one of the prices I paid for being stationed at Ft. Huachuca.

[Termite]

Of course, the last time I looked, the Army had plenty of helicopters.

The US Army leads the world in rotary wing technology. We do it because we have to, not because it's the best solution to the problem.

Helicopters are very good for what they are designed to do. They are not good for long loiter. They require 2x to 5x as much maintenance as an equivalent fixed wing asset for the same number of operating hours.

I'm not sure about bringing back the Skyraider, but all the A10s should belong to the US Army.

Exactly.

There is, or WAS, an aircraft that could be modded to meet Yogi's specs. The OV-10 Bronco. With modifications I believe it could be turned into a decent light CAS platform. The other possible choice is the Super Tucano, which already has numerous armament systems designed for it.

[randy]

Of course, the last time I looked, the Army had plenty of helicopters. How about modifying a Chinook to the Spooky concept?

Been done

More info here

With modern engines and lighter composite armor, might be worth revisiting