Fort Wayne air guard to receive F-16s

reply to post by billyvonhelvete


Hey thanks for giving the name of the base..
Now I got something to research.

Again you are lucky to see them.
As of now. I live 3.5 miles from greater Pittsburgh international. I'm directly in line of runway 28 left. The only military there now is the 911th C-130's and the 171st air refueling wing KC-135's
I've developed quite an ear for which aircraft is which on approach.
And when something don't sound familiar..my butt is running out the door with a camera.
Sometime F-15's, F-18's. 5 Osprey's 2 weeks ago.....so loud! Heard it coming for 6 minutes before it reached my home...good video.
An ilyushin IL-76 back in October...man that puppy shook the house!
And the grand daddy of them all...the C-5 Galaxy....those engines scream so loud....I love it!

But never A-10's
The only time I've seen one up close was on static display at the Airshow at greater Pitt.

HOWEVER! My former employer was Allegheny County Fire Authority at Greater Pittsburgh international. Best seats in the house during the Airshows..
Blue angels and The Thunderbirds's flying past the fire station at high speeds no more than 75 feet away as low as 12 feet above the runway!

Sadly..after major budget cuts. No more Airshows since 2011.
So I may never have a chance to see an A-10 again.
Perhaps I'll get lucky and see an F-35 fly over someday.
FYI...aircraft are no more the 300 ft up when passing over my house while dropping their landing gears...lucky for me I love aviation..or my house would stink on ice to live in.

reply to post by Glassbender777


Is that Ebing ANG Station? That's what comes up on the map. Oddly enough I had it marked on the map.

reply to post by Bigburgh


I haven't been to a good air show for years, u.s.a.f at mildenhall (about 1/2 hour drive) used to put one on every year, I looked forward to that when I was a kid, they stopped it when the "war on terror" started. I lost interest in planes and helicopters for a long time, but over the last 2 years ive become disabled, so ive spent too long staring at the screen, be it computer or t.v, while flicking through the channels I found a show called lock n load!, that got me hooked again!!, I haven't got much interest in civilian planes, but I love fighters, bombers, spy planes and all helicopters. Ive been luck enough to go up in sea king, black hawk, lynx, Chinnock, a huey and an osprey!, ive been to a few usaf bases last year/this year, I wanted to go up in a apache...got told no chance!!. Had a look around a blackbird and a stealth, didn't get a chance to have a look inside.

reply to post by billyvonhelvete


Wow. You sound like me.
After years of being a firefitghrer/paramedic..my back is no more. I officially retired in Nov of 2013.
I still teach from time to time.
So after 7 reconstructive back surgeries. I am able to spend time goofing around.
So here I am..I love it here when someone leaks info on new aircraft. Or aviation in general.

Just turned 40 on the 25th of Feb. Great age to retire.....now I spend most of my actual time at the local Air Heritage Museum. Rebuilding and maintaining aircraft..we just acquired an F-4 and putting back together. We also have an F-15A,C-123 thunder pig. And many more.
So I keep my nose in the aviation circle.

Note: Zaphod is still wayyyy better at aviation knowledge. But I'm learning more. My old job was to put the aircraft that was on fire out....now I can put them back together

And you can bet you bottom dollar when the A-10 is retired..paper work will be submitted to attain an A-10 once its permitted...

Here's the museum web site.

Airheritage.org

Sorry I can never get links to be clickable. But go to that site if you can. You'll see all we have.

reply to post by Bigburgh


Yes, also known as the Fort Smith, AR Air national Guard.

Glassbender777
reply to post by Bigburgh

 

Yes, also known as the Fort Smith, AR Air national Guard.

Thanks...I had a royal brain f@rt just then.

I'm not understanding any sort of equivalency between the F-16 and the A-10. The F-16 is a fighter. The A-10 is an "attack" aircraft, basically a huge gatling gun with wings wrapped around it. The F-16 is designed primarily for air combat. The A-10 is a low and slow, kick-your-butt on the ground kind of airplane. It seems to me they are two different airplanes designed for two different purposes.

And to retire the A-10 seems like sacrilege to me. What other airplane can perform its mission as well?

reply to post by Bigburgh


This is freaky, I turn 41 on friday, my back is also shot!, cant have surgery as they'll probably do more damage, still have 60% leg movement( enough to drive!), but walking and standing = agony, broke my back when I was a kid, lived fast, done and saw too much, its now caught up with me!. Going to have a look on the web for some air shows this summer. Im in the process of making a A10 background, to use on this site!.

reply to post by schuyler


You've hit the nail on the head!, nothing can preform like a A10 in said job, I like how you described it!, if you see one of them coming down on you, you know its gonna hurt!!

reply to post by Bigburgh


Just checked out the web site, im jealous!!, ive never pulled any aircraft apart or rebuilt, ive restored old cars, built race cars and loads of bikes and scooters. Im trying to get my friend to part ways with a small jet engine, as I want something to play with!!.

you could gather up all the a10's in the world and a handful of generation 5 fighters with assistance from high altitude weapons platforms they could take out every a10 before they even knew an engagement had started.

now from an a10 being obsolete point of view.... for doing its job.... as in killing targets... yes its extremely obsolete.... BUT nothing can kill targets in the way it can. that being said do we need a10's to handle things? nope not at all. tier 5 and beyond make a10's look like a bi plane.

nothing will ever replace the a10 but its something that doesn't really need replacing. we didnt have high altitude weapons platforms and the advance targeting systems when the a10 was king.

what happens once the f-22 and f-35 are obsolete? an A10 is a screwdriver in a drill world. and the f-22 is a space age hyper speed turn on a dime hell of a drill.

billyvonhelvete
reply to post by Bigburgh

 

Just checked out the web site, im jealous!!, ive never pulled any aircraft apart or rebuilt, ive restored old cars, built race cars and loads of bikes and scooters. Im trying to get my friend to part ways with a small jet engine, as I want something to play with!!.

Lol..that's not gonna make a car an f-4-16-35 or an A-10...
Don't become a Darwin statistic! Lol.
But that would a heck of a ride or flight.

to battle the argument that an a-10 is a air to ground well then lets not pit the a10's against the generation 5 planes.

lets give them the same task.

generation 5 weapons platforms could kill as many targets simultaneously as needed before anything knew what was going on. literally 1000's of targets could be dealt with if you had enough munitions. SEE, plan, target, execute. a10's can take hits and what not and they can cause a pile of mayhem when needed but some high tech can do it much more efficiently and safely. ya an a10 can take a shot.. cant see a gen 5 to shoot at it.... and if you do... it just knows where you are now thats all.. quick dodge and boom your dead lol

lets just say we get invaded by the A10's favorite target.... the Tank. lets just say there are tanks everywhere just needing to get blowed up.

id rather drop these from fast movers and high fliers then risk passing back and forth in an A10

en.wikipedia.org...


CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Model of the SFW displayed at the Textron Defense Systems booth, Singapore Airshow 2008
The CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon is a United States Air Force 1,000-pound (450 kg)-class non-guided (freefall) Cluster Bomb Unit (CBU). It was developed and produced by Textron Defense Systems. The CBU-97 in conjunction with the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser guidance tail kit, which converts it to a precision-guided weapon, is designated CBU-105.[1]

Overview[edit]

The CBU-97 consists of an SUU-66/B tactical munition dispenser that contains 10 BLU-108 submunitions. Each submunition contains four hockey-puck-shaped sensor-fused projectiles called Skeets. These detect target vehicles, such as tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks and other support vehicles, and fire a kinetic energy penetrator downwards at them.
Operation[edit]

CBU-97 SFW (8steps attacking process) NT.PNG
The 40 Skeets scan an area of 1,500 by 500 feet (460 m × 150 m) using infrared and laser sensors, seeking targets by pattern-matching. When a Skeet finds a target it fires an explosively-formed penetrator to destroy it. If a Skeet fails to find a target, it self-destructs 50 feet (15 m) above the ground; if this fails, a back-up timer disables the Skeet. These features are intended to avoid later civilian casualties from unexploded munitions, and result in an unexploded-ordnance rate of less than 1%.
As the CBU-97 approaches its designated aim-point, the dispenser skin is severed into three panels by an explosive cutting charge. The slipstream peels away these panels, exposing the 10 BLU-108 submunitions. An airbag ejects the forward five submunitions, then five in the aft bay. Following a preset timeline, the submunitions deploy parachutes so that they are spaced about 100 feet (30 m) apart. Then each submunition releases its chute, fires a rocket motor that stops its descent and spins it on its longitudinal axis, and releases Skeets 90 degrees apart, in pairs. Each spinning Skeet makes a coning motion that allows it to scan a circular area on the ground.
The laser sensor detects changes in apparent terrain height such as the contour of a vehicle. At the same time, infrared sensors detect heat signatures, such as those emitted by the engine of a vehicle. When the combination of height contours and heat signatures indicative of a target are detected, the Skeet detonates, firing an explosively formed penetrator (EFP), a kinetic energy penetrator, down into the target at high speed, sufficient to penetrate armor plating and destroy what is protected by it. Even well-armored vehicles such as main battle tanks, while having massive armor protection on the front and sides, are only lightly armored above,[2] and relatively easily penetrated. SFW disables targets using the kinetic energy of the penetrator; it does not explode. Each bomb can spread penetrators over an area of 15 acres (61,000 square metres) or more. According to an ABC News consultant, an attack by this bomb would basically stop an armored convoy moving down a road. While the bomb was designed during the cold war for fighter-bombers flying at low altitude below radar cover to attack Soviet tanks, a single B-52 high altitude heavy bomber can destroy an entire armored division with these bombs, where in the past dozens of aircraft would have had to drop hundreds of bombs for the same effect.[3]
The CBU-97, or CBU-105 version, is deployed by tactical aircraft from altitudes of 200 to 20,000 feet (60 to 6,100 m) Above Ground Level (AGL) at speeds of 250 to 650 knots (460 to 1,200 km/h).[4]
The weapon was first deployed, but not used, during Operation Allied Force when NATO entered the Kosovo War. Sensor-fused weapons were first fired in combat during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In 2010 the US government announced the sale to India of 512 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons.[2] The expected platform is the SEPECAT Jaguar.[5]
Saudi Arabia has also requested the CBU-105.[6]

reply to post by schuyler


Not sure either..to go from an A-10 to an F-16. Perhaps the avionics on an F-16 is closer to an F-35.
But I doubt it.
The f-16 has a little more range..2620 ferry miles or 295 combat miles. A-10 at 2580 ferry miles or 288 combat miles ( comes down to payload on mileage ). And I don't believe the decision was based gas mileage.lol
But the A-10 can take a lot more of a beating compared to the faster prettier F-16.

And yes exactly. Build the gun. Then figure out how to fly it.

But the article does say that F-16s were there before. Then they got the A-10s. And for budget in 2015. They've decided to bring the f-16s back. And hope to eventually get the F-35. But I don't understand what makes them think that.

reply to post by schuyler


There is none, nor is there a requirement for one. Guard units change types all the time. I've seen them go from C-130s to F-16s to B-1s to KC-135s in 10 years (same unit). It depends on the mission requirements and what the state can afford to operate.

reply to post by Bigburgh


In others words.......f16, f22, f35 are precision war tools, a10 was one hell of a sledgehammer!!, I do get that avionics have processed rapidly since, and the newer planes carry more affective payloads and can do the job from safer heights as far as the pilot is concerned, the thing I like about them is they a complete shock and awe machine, they got in quite close so the enemy knew what was doing the job on them, just the sight of them did 40% of the job.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Who owns the birds then. The state or the federal gov?

reply to post by Bigburgh


All Guard equipment is owned by the state.

reply to post by billyvonhelvete


A-10s can maneuver quite nicely at low speeds too. I agree with others that...why risk getting in close and endanger yourself..when you can do it unseen from miles up.
But the a10 can carry a large payload and frankly why not get in close to be sure of the target. The A Tank 10 can take more hits than the F-16.
I don't know really.
I'm clearly bias.
I just love the tank killer/Warthog