So the old Warthog is still indispensible. We certainly got our money’s worth from that funding. I just hope they aren’t still using Depleted Uranium DU rounds.

The rebels are closing on Sirte, Gaddafi’s stronghold and, presumably, strongpoint. Rather than get drawn into a self-defeating, Stalingrad-like battle of attrition to take it frontally, it should be bypassed … like the island hopping strategy we used in the Pacific … and left to be isolated by our sea and air power.

Moving on up the road to Tripoli would REALLY panick Gaddafi.

And we are hearing reports that El Queda have infiltrated our rebel allies. A friend of a friend is …?

Ken, I’m an old time Harpoon player and HFRO is like the Bible for Harpoon. I’m on my second copy and I can’t for the life of me remember an instance where an A-10 took out a ship.

Chuck, the 8-10 .50 cals in the nose would do the trick, especially if they were using AP…used to damn near cut DEs in half!

Could an A-10 skip bomb like a B-25? Granted that Mav’s and that big honkin’ 30 mm are great weapons for taking out MBT’s, but how much explosive is in a Mav?

Harpoon was a great game– first one I bought for my Mac– learned all about convergence zones, sonar, formations and the importance of EMCOM. Never got past the Classic Harpoon, but that was enough.

Don’t even remember if there were A-10s in that version…

And to think the powers-that-be wanted to retire the A-10. This bird has always been and will always be a major kicker of the enemy’s hindquarters. Long live the Warthog!

The Air Force would cut them up first.

As far as A-10s being appreciated by Marines, not so much. They have had a bad habit of shooting up Marine vehicles, from the Gulf War to Nasiriyah. The FACS and fog of war contributed, but I would still rather receive CAS from a naval aviator who can tell an AAV7 from a BMP.

In reviewing the first and second manuscripts of The Hunt for Red October for the Institute, there was one argument with Clancy (then an insurance salesman) I could not win and that was his use of A-10s for a war-at-sea strike. My argument: USN has ample means to conduct such action without calling on the USAF. His argument, which prevailed, was that he didn’t care about the airframe or the Service that flew it, he just liked the name Warthog. Thus the first (though fictional) use of the A-10 Warthog against a maritime target. I suspect Tom is now chortling.

Surfcaster: Tks. Have not read a word of Clancy since the second ms for Hunt.

Byron,

As Redeye says above. Naval aviator = Marine or Navy pilot, to include the FAC assigned to the ground unit. Let the AF do all the interdiction and strategic bombing they want, but for CAS I prefer Marine, Navy, or Army pilots.