- Six Diligence 2010

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 ;

Hi guys,

Here is something on the A-10 based on my last presentation.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic for the United States Air Force to provide close air support of ground forces by destroying tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets with limited air interdiction capability. It is the first US Air Force aircraft designed exclusively for close air support.

In the Vietnam War, there were only helicopters used for close air support, backed by some F-4 Phantoms. They were ineffective in close air support as their weapons were not potent enough to destroy hard targets, such as tanks. So, after the Vietnam War, the USAF proposed the project A-X, a proposal on an attack aircraft that is able to have massive firepower, high low-speed maneuverability, long loiter time and extreme survivability. These attributes were best in the Illyushin Il-2, Henschel Hs 129 and Douglas A-1 Skyraider.

Two companies were selected to build prototypes of their own designs, Fairchild Republic and Northrop. Their prototypes were the YA-10 and YA-9 respectively. They competed until the USAF chose the YA-10 for production. They were designed to be permanently loaded with the 30mm GAU-8 Avenger gatling gun but in the competition they were loaded with the 20mm M-61 Vulcan.

General characteristics
• Crew: 1
• Length: 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m)
• Wingspan: 57 ft 6 in (17.53 m)
• Height: 14 ft 8 in (4.47 m)
• Wing area: 506 ft² (47.0 m²)
• Airfoil: NACA 6716 root, NACA 6713 tip
• Empty weight: 24,959 lb (11,321 kg)
• Loaded weight:
o Standard: 30,384 lb (13,782 kg)
o On CAS mission: 47,094 lb (21,361 kg)
o On anti-armor mission: 42,071 lb (19,083 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 50,000 lb (23,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× General Electric TF34-GE-100A turbofans, 9,065 lbf (40.32 kN) each
Performance
• Never exceed speed: 450 knots (518 mph,[43] 833 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) with 18 Mk 82 bombs[44]
• Maximum speed: 381 knots (439 mph, 706 km/h) at sea level, clean[43]
• Cruise speed: 300 knots (340 mph, 560 km/h)
• Stall speed: 120 knots (220 km/h) [45]
• Combat radius:
o On CAS mission: 250 nmi (288 mi, 460 km) at 1.88 hour single-engine loiter at 5,000 ft (1,500 m), 10 min combat
o On anti-armor mission: 252 nmi (290 mi, 467 km), 40 nm (45 mi, 75 km) sea-level penetration and exit, 30 min combat
• Ferry range: 2,240 nmi (2,580 mi, 4,150 km) with 50 knot (55 mph, 90 km/h) headwinds, 20 minutes reserve
• Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,700 m)
• Rate of climb: 6,000 ft/min (30 m/s)
• Wing loading: 99 lb/ft² (482 kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.36
Armament
• Guns: 1× 30 mm (1.18 in) GAU-8/A Avenger gatling cannon with 1,174 rounds
• Hardpoints: 11 (8× under-wing and 3× under-fuselage pylon stations) with a capacity of 16,000 lb (7,260 kg),with provisions to carry combinations of:
o Rockets:
 4× LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19× / 7× Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively)
 4× LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19× CRV7 70 mm rockets)
 6× LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4× 127 mm (5.0 in) Zuni rockets)
o Missiles:
 2× AIM-9 Sidewinders air-to-air missiles for self-defense
 8× AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles
o Bombs:
 Mark 80 series of unguided iron bombs or
 Mk 77 incendiary bombs or
 BLU-1, BLU-27/B Rockeye II, Mk20, BL-755[46] and CBU-52/58/71/87/89/97 cluster bombs or
 Paveway series of Laser-guided bombs or
 Joint Direct Attack Munition (A-10C)[47] or
 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (A-10C)
• SUU-42A/A Flares/Infrared decoys and chaff dispenser pod or
• AN/ALQ-131 & AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods or
• Lockheed Martin Sniper XR & LITENING targeting pods (A-10C) or
• 2× 600 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for extended range/loitering time.
Avionics
• AN/AAS-35(V) Pave Penny laser tracker pod[48] (mounted beneath right side of cockpit) for use with Paveway LGBs

- Brendon Chin

posted by 6 Diligence at 8:36 PM

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