demodmb@iitmax.iit.edu (Dean M. Bleess) (10/24/89)
From: demodmb@iitmax.iit.edu (Dean M. Bleess) The A-10 carries up to 1,350 rounds of HEX (High Explosive) or AP (Armor piercing) shells, each around the size of a bottle of cream. The gun is usually used in a 2 second burst followed by a minute of cooling to avoid gun heating-fouling problems. As far a the aircraft itself, most of the parts are interchangable left to right, e.g. the empennage, control surfaces, and maybe some landing gear parts. The cockpit -except for the canopy is designed to resist up to 23 mm shells, and the gear mains project from the fairings when retracted to help avoid damage if it becomes necessary to land gear up. The engines are mounted where they are to help block much of the heat signature of the engines. The most common attack profile for A-10's would be to send in 3+ aircraft to use the terrain to mask the direction of their passes over the targets, and to avoid a prediction of where the next would come from, the point being that by the time anyone can find them they are gone and the next is making a pass from a different quarter. Back to the gun, it takes about 77 hp to run and is 21 feet long NOT including the drum for the ammunition, at 4200 rounds/min it can empty the drum in about 20 seconds of firing time. I heard that the gun is VARIABLE from 2100 rnd/min to 4200 rnd/min, but I think it is probably only selectable between the two. ================ Dean M. Bleess Aerospace Engineering Illinois Institute of Technology -Chicago "If I'm wrong -- tell me ! That's why I'm going to school" p.s. -- Cessna 1xx series => The best stealth buy anywhere !! --
mmm@apple.com (10/26/89)
From: portal!cup.portal.com!mmm@apple.com demodmb@iitmax.iit.edu (Dean M. Bleess) says: > avoid damage if it becomes necessary to land gear up. The engines are moun > where they are to help block much of the heat signature of the engines. I have a small plastic model of the A-10, and if you hold it at an angle like that of a ground observer, you see that the wing blocks your view of the engine intakes the entire time the plane passes overhead. I presume the main reason for this is to protect the compressor blades.