Hey! I still use AOL Mail. I've had that address for a very long time and don't pay a dime for it!

Never mind all the young pretenders, the OV-10 is back!

I don't know about that, it's working out well for Fabrique Nationale, with all the M249s, M240G/Bs, etc. that the US military uses. They even manufacture some M16/M4 rifles (I think it was the M16A4 for the Marines but I can't remember).

As for the AT-6, I don't think it should replace the A-10. Supplement it maybe, but nothing should replace the A-10 IMO.

It doesn't matter how much of the plane is built in the US. It matters how much is built in the home states of the most powerful members of Congress. Washington and Georgia have powerful members with clout. These others are lower on the totem pole, and aren't given the same consideration.
It's purely politics. Not like it doesn't happen the other way around. Europe didn't need a C-130 on steroids. They had plenty of C-130s (still buying more) and could have bought C-17s. Only the UK then did, but the others decided it was better to make their own, albeit still smaller than the C-17, and then not be able to afford to buy as many as they need anyway. Oh and they gave the award for the engines to the inferior unproven local consortium instead of Canada's P&W design that most analysts agree would've been superior in all ways but one...European jobs. I guess they didn't feel any need to help Canada and themselves by getting that one.

The US doesn't have money to waste anymore anyway.


The Jedi Master

I hear Air Force cancelled both; Nothing will get made.

It is not an order for the US Air Force, it is an order for the Afghan security forces as a CAS plane.

That is to say, the US is buying it, but the planes are going to the Afghan army/airforce.

Pretty good AOL Defense article here that gives a good summary of where we are:

HERE!




I have to admit that I didn't realize this whole program was for the Afghan Air Force. In that case - I say scrap them both..pissing into the wind there. I do wish the U.S. Air Force would field them though..(not as a replacement for the A-10, but as a COIN plane of their own..)

BeachAV8R