Invisible, agile, powerful, with fully integrated avionics. These are some of the features of the Jsf, the new fifth-generation tactical fighter.
The Lightning II will carry out air superiority and tactical bombing missions, replacing several aircraft, some of which have made the history of the air force. At the Joint Strike Fighter the arduous task of replacing 'holy monsters' such as the F-16, the F-18 Hornet, Tornado, Amx, Harrier and F-5.
The F-35 is also expected to replace the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II in its role as Close Air Support. Specifically, tactical support is carried out by aircraft with strong abilities to suppress enemy anti-aircraft defenses and capable of facing opposing ground forces in proximity to friendly ones. These missions must necessarily be carried out by robust aircraft, very agile at low altitude, able to pour out enormous firepower, take the blows of the enemy and return to the base even if heavily damaged. A task still carried out today, since the first flight in 1976, from the A-10: a monstrous machine.
In the forecasts, the F-35 should replace it, giving the Fairchild a deserved retirement. The latter, however, has been extended since 1990, when the needs transformed the A-10 from next to the starboard guesthouse. According to a new forecast, in fact, the A-10 (after a careful update) could remain in service definitely up to 2028 (even if the date could be moved to 2040), waiting for it to be replaced by drones designed for the close air support.
So the F-35 has already failed to play this role?
The answer is inherent in the JSF project itself. Let's go in order.
The history of close-up aircraft should make us think. In fact, the role of tactical support has almost always been played by aircraft deemed obsolete, slow and not in step with the times. Just think of the Douglas A-1 Skyrider, an aircraft entered into service in the 1947 and withdrawn into the 1968. It was slow and obsolete, but very robust. He could collect hundreds of hits from the enemy infantry, he could stay for hours on the operational area and transport an impressive arsenal thanks to his fourteen wing air piers. It was the perfect aircraft.
Same story for the A-10: repeatedly declared finished, but always recalled on the front line until it is considered by the USAF the only aircraft specifically for Close Air Support.
But why?
Meanwhile the context. The role of support for infantry is a specific task. The hunt flies a few meters from the ground, so it is a shotgun of small and big caliber of the enemy, as well as of the crusader not to mention, finally, the Sam missiles. The aircraft must be able to continue to 'hammer' the enemy by performing multiple passes, stationing for a reasonable period on the operational zone, protecting their forces. Usually, the tactical support aircraft, acts in very critical situations, with predominant enemy infantry and is the first to provide support and the last to leave the area (eg protecting a team in recovery). Essential, then, the armor of the aircraft. In the near plane support, where asymmetric combat reaches its highest peaks, invisibility (to radar), being stealth, holding the most sophisticated avionics, does not count almost anything, considering that one can fool a missile, but certainly not the 23 mm bullets. And beyond theory, history teaches: the United States has always entrusted airborne aircraft support to obsolete aircraft over the period.
But let's analyze the two aircraft. Why, the F-35 can never replace the A-10? Here are some examples.
The A-10 was designed with one purpose: to survive. It is heavily armored, with armored plates to protect the vital parts of the aircraft. The pilot is protected by a bulletproof canopy and is wrapped in a kind of armored titanium “tank” that weighs about 600 kg. The A-10 was designed to withstand 23mm guns and against some 57mm guns. It can fly with a damaged and partially destroyed wing, a single engine, a single rudder, a single aileron. Can fly with damaged hydraulics thanks to back-up mechanical controls. Its downward curved wingtips increase lift at low speeds. The trolley's main wheels protrude from the nacelles when it is retracted: a further guarantee of survival even when the trolley cannot be extended.
The F-35 is a fifth generation fighter. It is all about invisibility and avionics, not comparable with any other existing fighter (F-22 excluded). It was designed to impose air supremacy for the next 50 / 60 years. The problem, however, is just that: one wonders, what can be used to be "stealth" in a close combat, almost body to body, where the armor and firepower to play a major role in the missions . The F-35 cell is not designed to withstand infantry fire, nor to survive the 23 mm cannon fire. The JSF was born to be elusive and performing in a dogfight, certainly not for close air support.
The A-10 was designed around the seven-barreled gun GAU-8 Avenger, the most powerful airborne tactical weapon on the planet. It is a GUNling type cannon from 30 mm at two cadences of shooting: 2100 or 4200 strokes per minute and can be brought to the maximum shooting cadence in 0,55 seconds. The ammunition tank carries a maximum of 1350 hits. It is capable of destroying a tank at almost 7 km away.
The F-35A is equipped with a Gatling gun from 25 mm GAU-22 / A with four rotating barrels, brought internally. It is capable of firing three thousand hits per minute, with a range of 180 hits. Beyond the penetration capacity of the ammunition (inferior to the Avenger), the standard equipment of the F-35A is less than nearly 10 times compared to the A-10.
The A-10 is equipped with ten sub-wing pylons and is one of the heavily armed aircraft of the U Air Force. It can carry almost 7 thousand and 500 pounds of weapons.
The F-35A can internally carry two air-to-air and two air-to-ground missiles. Six sub-wing pylons. It can carry just over eight thousand kilos of equipment.
The A-10 has two TF34 turbo fans that allow a speed of 834 km / h and a range of 460 km.
The F-35A is equipped with a Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 with afterburner that allows it a maximum speed of 1900 km / h and a range of one thousand km. It is impossible to make a technological comparison between the two aircraft. The F-35 is probably the most advanced fighter in the world (after the F-22 Raptor and the Russians permitting) and was designed for air supremacy with the ability to engage and destroy enemy aircraft before they are even discovered by them. last. It was equipped with the most advanced technology in existence with an initial cost of $ 150 million per aircraft. The price will drop over the next few years, stabilizing, according to Lockeed, at around $ 80 million each.
The A-10, designed in the 70 'years, could not operate in scenarios where air supremacy was not previously imposed: it would be a very easy prey. The project was born for tactical support and the destruction of tanks with a cost of just under 12 million dollars per specimen. If it were to remain in service up to 2040, the A-10 could be the first fighter in the world to fly for 70 years. This speaks volumes about the capabilities of the aircraft, designed to support the troops on the ground.
The F-35 was designed to excel in a highly technological context, impose air supremacy and perform tactical bombing.
The A-10, instead, to collect hits and hammer the enemy: both, in the near future, could perform combined operations in the same mission, with a technological gap between the two aircraft of just fifty years.
Franco Iacch
(photo: Lockheed Martin / US Department of Defense)