By Every Army guy’s favorite airplane is getting an upgrade in South Korea
The Air Force’s ground-attack airplane in South Korea is being replaced with an upgraded version that can strike targets with state-of-the-art satellite-guided smart bombs, officials said Monday.The 25th Fighter Squadron at Osan Air Base currently flies the A-10A Thunderbolt II, known as the Warthog.
It received its first three C-models with smarter weapons capability earlier this month, with more to come at an undisclosed future date.
The squadron is known as the Assam Draggins and has 30 aircraft.
The A-model Warthog can launch high-tech laser-guided bombs and other munitions, but not the more advanced satellite-guided JDAM — or joint direct attack munition — that C-models can. The newer version started entering the Air Force inventory in 2007. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link.
2:43 am on March 17th, 2010 1
Too bad ROK didn't take possession of this awesome bird on the cheap while it had the chance…
3:35 pm on March 17th, 2010 2
No real need for it, really. It's not as if there would be much left of North Korea's armed forces after South Korean artillery and/or surface to surface missiles are done with them.
4:15 pm on March 17th, 2010 3
Just as in the US Air Force itself, many people in leadership positions under-appreciated it. It just wasn't sexy enough. It was old and ugly and everyone wants new and sleek.
Few people may remember that just before Gulf War I, the U.S. Air Force was preparing to retire the A-10. Even after the war started and its need was recognized again, the Air Force was still working plans to replace it with a version of the F-16.
There were many in the Air Force who knew the need for the aircraft, but the only voice of decision in the Air Force at the time was what was know as the 'fighter mafia.' It was probably due mostly to the insistence of the Army that the aircraft was saved.
As it stands now, and probably for many years to come, the A-10 will be the Wolverine of Combat Air Support; the Best There Is At What It Does.
Just this week, Robert Dorr, the curmudgeon editorialist of Air Force Times wrote that the Air Force should start looking for an effective replacement for the A-10. In case you didn't know, the Air Force has declared that the F-35 is the A-10 replacement. Dorr argues that it is not.
Here is a paragraph from his article:
9:19 pm on March 17th, 2010 4
Gotta waste that money if you don't want to loose it in the next budget.
9:50 pm on March 18th, 2010 5
Feedback for Stripes: The name of the squadron is the Assam Dragons, not "Draggins." Unless they are talking about the walk of any 25th FS members who display the effects of too much soju on their RTB back to quarters. Simple check would have established this name properly, try: http://www.cbi-history.com/part_i.html#48
And an ode to the Dragons of Assam:
25th Fighter Squadron
Assam Dragon
1942-1945
It's of a fearless fighter, a story now I'll tell;
He was a ferocious dragon and in Assam he did dwell;
'Twas far beyond the mountains, he commenced his wild career,
Where many lowly Japanese, below him shook with fear.
Bold and yet undaunted; the dragon of Assam,
Strong and undefeated, he ruled this jungle land;
When Japanese came over, to fight a mighty session,
He sent them to their ancestors, in mournful great procession.
O'Dragon of Assam, O'Dragon of Assam so cunning and sly,
Your snarling lips and flaming nose belie your soulful eye.
You are a Ledo roadster with laurels in your hair,
We've seen you once too often within your jungle lair;
Those wings of steel, well studded with fifties,
Are in constant embrace with the "Margueretta Nifties
R. A. "Bob" McClung
Gone West – - 1981
As for the F-35 replacing the A-10, or anything else, from what you see on the Internet and all the thing may be a real turkey, a real money pit for the tax payers. DoD had the guts to cancel the troubled and over-budget A-12 back in 1991 – should have gone with the A-6F vice the still short-legged Super Hornet though. But the F-35 may have already become too many congressmens' sacred cash cow, very excellent strategy by the contractor for corporate survival but poison to the effective replacement of aging tactical air. Reminds me of President Eisenhower's warning in his farewell address about the Military-Industrial complex.
1:15 am on March 19th, 2010 6
Somewhere along the line the designation must have officially changed from "Assam Dragons" to "Assam Draggins."
There is this picture of their patch on the CBI site. http://www.cbi-history.com/images/25th_fs_assam.g… . And they are also refered to that way on the Osan Air Base website. http://www.osan.af.mil/library/factsheets/factshe…