"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (10 Viewers)

[GTX]

Meh! Personally I feel the A-10 is overrated in the present age.

 

[SaparotRob]

I agree with you, GTX, but BIG GUN GO BRRRT!

 

[buffnut453]

We all do! Big gun go BRRRRT.

Are you my brother by another mother? My family is well accustomed to me saying "Big car go BRRRMMM!" every time I see a cool, old car particularly a Bentley Blower or any Aston Martin.

 

[SaparotRob]

Are you my brother by another mother? My family is well accustomed to me saying "Big car go BRRRMMM!" every time I see a cool, old car particularly a Bentley Blower or any Aston Martin.

Dude!

 

[GrauGeist]

Meh! Personally I feel the A-10 is overrated in the present age.

I'm sure the Russians in that massive convoy outside of Kyiv a while back, wouldn't have thought so...

 

[SaparotRob]

I'm sure the Russians in that massive convoy outside of Kyiv a while back, wouldn't have thought so...

That had to be every A-10 pilot's non-gender specific nocturnal emission.

 

[GTX]

I'm sure the Russians in that massive convoy outside of Kyiv a while back, wouldn't have thought so...

And yet where were the SU-25s that Ukraine already has and which would have been just as effective?

 

[SaparotRob]

Yeah, but it ain't like seeing an American bird in Ukrainian colors.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Meh! Personally I feel the A-10 is overrated in the present age.

Not if the Russian SAMs are ineffective.

 

[GTX]

Russia says it is stepping up operations as more rockets hit Ukraine and civilian death toll mounts

Russia says its forces will step up military operations in Ukraine in "all operational areas" as Moscow's rockets and missiles pound cities in strikes that Kyiv says have killed dozens in recent days.

www.abc.net.au

 

[GTX]

Not if the Russian SAMs are ineffective.

This would imply that they are not:

List of aircraft losses during the Russo-Ukrainian War - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And don't forget that Ukraine has asked for more Russian SAMs.

 

[Admiral Beez]

This would imply that they are not:

I don't see a lot of fixed wing strike aircraft losses that mention SAMs. A very few give us the necessary info to decide on the SAM risk to strike aircraft, like:

"25 February 2022: An Su-27 was shot down over Kyiv by Russian S-400 air defense system"

Instead that website lists losses like the below:

24 February 2022: Ukrainian Su-24 is lost during the opening days of the war in Poltava.
27 February 2022: A Su-24 call sign White 44, from 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade was lost near Bucha
27 February 2022: A Su-25, call sign Blue 39, was shot down near Hlibivka Vyshgorod, Kyiv

What happened to these aircraft? Why were the first two lost? Perhaps mechanical or operator failures? What shot down the last one? No mention of SAMs. Maybe it was AAMs or gunfire?

 

[GTX]

Given that at the start of this year they reportedly had around 15 - 20 in service and have lost 9 - 10 it is still fairly significant.

See the following from here (noting both source though also other inputs)

The Ukrainian Air force also operates Su-25s. On 26 February three Su-25s from the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade were lost. "Blue 19" and "Blue 30" were shot down over the Kherson region.[96]​ The pilots were presumed dead. Photos of the wrecks of the two Ukrainian aircraft were published.[97]​[98]​[99]​ A third aircraft from the 299th was lost, but the pilot, Andrey Maksinov was captured by Russian forces.[100]​ Ukrainian media acknowledged that the pilot was Ukrainian.[101]​ The next day another Su-25, "Blue 39", piloted by Gennady Matulyak was shot down near Hlibivka Vyshgorod, Kyiv region.[102]​[103]​ On 2 March, one Su-25 from 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade piloted by Oleksandr Korpan was lost over Starokostiantyniv, Khmelnytskyi Oblast.[104]​[105]​[106]​ On 10 March one Su-25, "Blue 31" was shot down near Nova Kakhovka, Kherson.[107]​[108]​[109]​ On 14 March another Su-25 was shot down by Russian forces in Volnovakha, Donbas region. The pilot, Roman Vasyliuk, was captured by Russian forces and later released on 24 April, in a Russo-Ukrainian prisoner swap.[110]​[111]​ On 22 March, a Ukrainian Su-25, heavily damaged in combat was recorded in video.[112]​ On 15 April, a Ukrainian Su-25 was reportedly shot down by Russian forces in Izyum.[113]​ The downing of the aircraft was recorded by a military camera in thermographic mode.[114]​ The pilot, Captain Yegor Seredyuk, was reported as being killed near Izyum on 15 April.[115]​[116]​Seredyuk was awarded the Hero of Ukraine order.[117]​ On 14 May a Su-25 from 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade piloted by Captain Serhiy Parkhomenko was shot down in Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Oblast and the pilot killed.[118]​[119]​

 

[GrauGeist]

The SU-25's 30mm has 250 rounds.

The A-10's 30mm has nearly 1,200.

So...which one was said to be over rated?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Wasn't the A-10 designed at the same time as the Soviet-era SAMs the Russians are using now? This IS the environment the A-10 is intended to fight in.

 

[hawkeye2an]

Czech Mi-24 assault helicopters enter the fight in Ukraine

The Ukrainian military confirmed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have received its first attack helicopters from the Czech Republic. According to Defense Express, recently received Mi-24V Hind armed assault helicopters, donated by the Czech government as part of its military support, were used...

defence-blog.com

Yes, but are they equiped with the latest Garmins?

 

[buffnut453]

Wasn't the A-10 designed at the same time as the Soviet-era SAMs the Russians are using now? This IS the environment the A-10 is intended to fight in.

Well, the "Soviet Era" spans 1918 thru 1991 which is a rather long time in technology development terms.

The A-10 entered service in 1977. The SA-15 that we're seeing in Ukraine entered service a decade later. Thus the A-10 was designed to operate in the air defence environment of the SA-15's predecessor, the SA-8. Also, the SA-15 has been further developed after its entry into service to make it more capable.

So, no, the A-10 was not designed to go up against the SAMs being used in Ukraine today.

 

[GrauGeist]

The A-10s have gone through quite a few upgrades over the years, too.

To be realistic, anything that's designed to get down in the weeds will be putting itself in a high-threat environment.

 

[ThomasP]

The thing to remember about the A-10 is that it was not designed to operate in a vacuum. It was supposed to operate in concert with top cover (ie fighters and interceptors) and SAM suppression platforms (ie Wild Weasel and other attack platforms). While the other platforms were at least contesting air supremacy, and suppressing and/or destroying the SAM systems, the A-10s would sledge-hammer the mobile ground forces.

There is no reason to think that the A-10 would not still be an effective platform under the current circumstances given the right support.

Having said all that, I say again:

 

[Snautzer01]

BRRRRAAAAAATHHHH