Why is the A-10 aircraft considered 'Ugly'?

[GusNSpot]

@drewder

As someone who has toted a gun around a war zone I have to say it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

Perzactly.

You also do not hear much grumbling from pilots who get to fly them.

[Loach]

@bump

I suspect it’s probably more because they’re getting long in the tooth, and there’s no expectation in the foreseeable future to fight the sort of wars that the plane was made to fight.

The thing is built to wreck tanks and provide close air support, and it does those things very well. But most of what the USAF thinks it’ll be doing in the future is more along the lines of precision munition strikes and similar things, not doing strafing runs on tanks and dropping bombs close-in.

That said, it’s not “pretty”, but it is awfully cool. Kind of like the difference between a hand-engraved H&H double rifle and a modern assault rifle. The former is “pretty”, while the latter is relentlessly functional, both of which have their own aesthetic value.

We are currently fighting a war that it was not designed for but it’s extremely good at. The Air Force wants to get rid of it. You won’t find a soldier or Marine that wants to get rid of it.

[drewder]

@davida03801

Not fast and not pretty. The reason the USAF wants to get rid of it.

However to me it looks bad ass. I’d hate to be on the ground and see that circling me like a buzzard.

I’ve always understood the Air force’s dislike of it is that they hate to have to be in the close air support role. They much prefer their long range strategic bombing role.

[outlierrn]

Thing of beauty, in my world.

[Atomic_Alex]

@drewder

I’ve always understood the Air force’s dislike of it is that they hate to have to be in the close air support role. They much prefer their long range strategic bombing role.

Would that be the Air Force on an organisational or an individual level? Because I would be really surprised that there aren’t plenty of pilots who would just love to get mixed up in a close in battle like that while others would prefer not to. It takes all sorts.

[drewder]

@Atomic_Alex

Would that be the Air Force on an organisational or an individual level? Because I would be really surprised that there aren’t plenty of pilots who would just love to get mixed up in a close in battle like that while others would prefer not to. It takes all sorts.

No not the individual pilots rather the organization that believes that close air support missions are beneath them.

[Atomic_Alex]

@drewder

No not the individual pilots rather the organization that believes that close air support missions are beneath them.

Ah that’s kind of what I suspected.

[running_coach]

@drewder

No not the individual pilots rather the organization that believes that close air support missions are beneath them.

That’s where the targets are.

[Loach]

@running_coach

That’s where the targets are.

The sexy targets are the nefarious enemy fighter pilots.

[Clothahump]

@Loach

We are currently fighting a war that it was not designed for but it’s extremely good at. The Air Force wants to get rid of it. You won’t find a soldier or Marine that wants to get rid of it.

Read Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art Of War. The description of how the Air Force brass tried to sabotage the aircraft will curl your hair. There’s a reason that Col. Boyd has a memorial at Marine Base Quantico.

Boyd was an absolutely boss warrior. But the Air Force brass hated him because he thought outside the box instead of toeing the company line. He is the developer of the OODA loop, which any martial artist or strategist will immediately recognize.

[gnoitall]

@drewder

I’ve always understood the Air force’s dislike of it is that they hate to have to be in the close air support role. They much prefer their long range strategic bombing role.

My speculation, as a retired airman, may be that the Air Force nurses an institutional grudge against the Army for (what the AF perceives as) the shabby treatment of air power during the decades that the Army owned it.

That, and teh seksy. The Air Force Song notably to mention anything happening below “the wild blue yonder”, other than one passing mention of bombers.

And finally, the money. Why would the Air Force want to spend its share of the defense budget solving the Army’s problems? The Air Force’s solution to the Army’s problems is to take all the money and effectively banish the Army. Problem solved.

[drewder]

I like how A-10 pilots on the other hand love to know that they’re able to help the ground grunts and save lives on the battlefield.

- YouTube