Tri-Service

Pentagon Pits Joint Strike Fighter Against A-10 In Swansong Stand-Off

The Pentagon is developing tests that would pit the F-35 against a Cold War-era A-10, according to US publication Politico. The last time the next-generation fighter jet was matched up against an older plane, it failed to live up to expectations.

Opponents of U.S. Air Force efforts to retire its A-10 aircraft have said the 40-year-old close-air support plane can outperform the Pentagon’s most advanced aircraft.

The Warthog will get the chance to prove it before the curtains finally close on its long career in close air support for the US forces.

The US Defense Department plans to test the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet against the A-10 in close air support tests in 2017 and 2018.

First flown in 1972, the A-10 entered front-line service in 1977.

The Air Force’s top general and the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester confirmed that the fifth-generation fighter, equipped with its most modern software, will be tested against the A-10 in 2018 in a comparative evaluation of their capabilities for close-air support, as well as other missions such as air-to-air combat.

Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of operational testing, said the stand-off could be a mismatch in terms of capability, as the F-35 will conduct close-air support differently. Gilmore said.

The “A-10 flies low, slow and has a big gun,” he said, while the F-35 will have “very capable” electronics and sensors to meld data from various sources into a ground picture for its pilot.

“You’d have to look at all the results of all the missions and all the testing,” he said. “No weapon system that we’ve ever tested has been stellar across the board. My effectiveness call would be based on the overall results of the tests.”

Durable: A-10 of the 172nd Fighter Squadron after it was hit in the right engine by an Iraq missile. It managed to fly back to base an land safely. Iraq, 2003.

The Pentagon's office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOTE) wants to better assess limitations of the existing fifth-generation stealth fighter made by Lockheed Martin Corp, reported Defense Daily.

The video below takes the viewer into the cockpit of an A-10 and shows just what close air support is all about: