I am a fan of what the A10 stands for. Single role, austere / affordable design focusing on important tactical areas i.e. what will help the grunts on the ground. (Please note in this respect my thinking has been polluted by the writings of Boyd and Sprey.) The fact that it has put the nose out of USAF hierarchy is just a bonus. But....and it's a big BUT I can't see how it could effectively operate until a reliable method for evading low level IR missiles is invented.
How did I come to this conclusion....braces himself for hysterical laughter....DCS A10 A&C. Okay okay it's a game, it's impossible to fly co-operatively with the AI, in the real world I am sure there are all sorts of systems we are unaware of. But if the effectiveness of just one SA 10 is remotely accurate then its' combination of mobility, passive tracking and aiming coupled with IR missiles able to engage almost down to ground level, make employing the A10 almost suicidal.
I read recently that if the balloon had gone up during the Cold War then the attrition rate of A10's in Germany (that would have been Andy Bush and his mates) was predicted to be eerrhhh very high. With modern day double digit SAM's especially short range low level I'd worry it would be total carnage.
Am I being too pessimistic about the role of CAS as typified by the A10 in the modern battlefield against peers. Are people being too sentimental about the hog and the days of low and slow are over? Is there anyway to counter a launched low altitude IR missile ?
TIM
Any cold war scenario that didn't go nuclear would be attrition on the ground and in the air - so forget about air superiority or a load of exported crap acting as sitting ducks in a flat desert!
The Soviet tactics combined with sheer numbers of ground and air equipment that Iraq certainly never possessed, and the terrain meant it would be nothing more than a bloody nightmare - however A-10s would still have had to venture in against MiGs etc, and the latest SAMs and take their chances.
Today the A-10C has an IR missile detection system - and the real thing can use IR towed decoys by all accounts but there is no guarantee against modern MANPADs. Flying low and slow is fine until you fly over any half decent AAA like Shilka - (AAA is the most lethal threat to low flying aircraft) or get spotted by an enemy fighter. It can still only operate safely in a permissive environment IMO after the Air and long range SAM threat (SA-20 etc) is dealt with by other assets.
In 1991 A-10As tried to stay above 12,000ft because of the threats, but in OEF they could get away with flying lower due to a totally different environment.
