I remember as a kid, when the N/AW variant was mildly mentioned, I was fortunate enough to be friends of a few kids whose dads were part of the decision making cycle and there was much ado about having a non-supersonic attack bird in a newly re-vamped Air Force sporting their new supersonic F-16 and F-15's. The Air Force many times has wanted to discard the A-10, but it's wars such as Desert Storm and OIF/OEF that save it from the fires. It has always been considered a not so elegant aircraft and as such, not as worthy to be part of the Air Force (not my opinion, strctly what's been read over the years). There have been attempts to move them to the Army, which I think would be fantastic, but someone always spouts off about a regulation preventing the Army from operating jet aircraft, though ironic that our MBT and all helos use jet turbines.

Anyway, it's true the N/AW variant was a private venture and never really gained much ground, though I believe the thought process was very sound and would have made a fantastic night attack bird, with uprated engines, of course. But what do I know, an infantryman by trade and rarely get to see the business end of the A-10...

Matt

I still wish we had them just so I could get a ride

someone always spouts off about a regulation preventing the Army from operating jet aircraft, though ironic that our MBT and all helos use jet turbines.