gsneal@c00011-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu (GORDON SCOTT NEAL) (09/18/90)
From: gsneal@c00011-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu (GORDON SCOTT NEAL) This is a part II of my previous article on the tactical employment of th A-10 in the upcoming war. Part I laid down some basics for the use of A-10's in the Joint, multi-service theatre of operations. This part will conclude with some details of one possible employment solution. The A-10's and the rest of the package of aircraft will push across the Front Line of Own Troops (FLOT) in a very narrow band of time (30-45 seconds). Once through the "line" each group of aircraft will "fan out" to conduct their own mission. Varying loiter times and times to target will not allow the aircraft to return across the FLOT in a forward passage of lines as a group so strict compliance with air coordination measures is critical to prevent fratricide. It is important to get back to the basics. The attack will come from the east, about even with arrayed enemy forces which are oriented predominantly to the south towards Saudi Arabia. This is a critical point here because all enemy intel gathering assets will be focused, for the most part, to the south allowing for a greater possiblity of surprise from the east. The timing of the attack just after sunrise is also critical. The sun will be low in the eastern sky, reducing enemy observation and effectiveness of heat seeking missles as our comrades scream out of the sun. And like all good HOG DRIVERS understand, the best place to hit a tank is on the sides or the back, where the armor is thin. The depleated uranium high explosive round will cut the tanks to shreds. Reactive armor, which may have been applied to the outside of the turret on the tank, will be penetrated as the kinetic energy of the 30mm projectile pushes hard, one round after another given the accuracy and rate of fire of the system, through the same area on the turret. [mod.note: The A-10's DU rounds are not, to my knowledge, high-explosive, nor for that matter are any DU munitions of which I'm aware. - Bill ] The idea here is to mass the force and focus it therefore the majority of A-10's available in the theatre will have to be employed at the same time. This max lauch of A-10's will have to be orchastrated from many airbases at once. The quick combat turnaround will be essential to ensure follow-on sortie generation to clean up the remaining enemy forces. I failed to mention above that the ammunition mix should contain some Infrared Maverick missles but not too many as there is a trade off in weight given the high density altitudes. That time of day the temperatures should be low enough to allow a large fuel and ammo weight. The aircraft, however, should be kept as "clean" as possible to reduce drag and thus allow for good manueverablily. Of course the plane will make max use of available flare and chaff modules coupled with the ECM pod to defeat any lucky missle that does get through. This is just one possible solution. I provide it to enlighten those who are interested in the application of combat power. I invite all to comment. Thanks.
34X3TAN%CMUVM.BITNET@VM1.gatech.edu (09/24/90)
From: <34X3TAN%CMUVM.BITNET@VM1.gatech.edu>
Here is a preposal:
Use the 'F-117's to seek out the radar installations first as EF-111's and
EA-6's play havoc with their radars. The 117's can preform 'wild weasel' fun-
tions quite proficently playing the shooter. After trashing the SAM sit es then
send in the A-10's with mavericks or hellsfires to trash the various tanks.
Also, tanks are quite tasty with napalm-thermite sauce...
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* The Mount Pleasant Madman *
* -Jeff Kavanaugh *
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* More chaos for the dollar, please... *
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