Bring back the OV-10 Bronco! perfect for Iraq, it's small, quick and lightly armored, and the ordanance options pack a major punch, would be useful for Close Air Support and it's more maneuverable than any helicopter.

Posted by: James Parker at January 30, 2006 6:03 AM

Jeez, you guys ... okay, for starters, there wasn't just ONE insurgent taking on these Marines. There were many, in different positions. As for the accuracy of the aviators' ordnance, who says they didn't hit where aimed? In fact, they did, all of them, and on that November mission, two jets delivered at least four bombs and two entire loads of 20-millimeter accurately.

Cheers.

Posted by: David Axe at January 28, 2006 2:29 AM

GUess that 100 billion + dollars for guided weapons didnt pay off in the accuracy department.

I seen on the Military channel a show that told the story of some rangers or marines (or something) on top of a mountain in afghanistan, and there was a bunker of afghani bad guys on the top of the mountain.

3 planes dropped their entire ordnance and missed the bunker completely. The soldiers were 100 meters away from the bunker so the planes were trying not ot hit them and try and overshoot the bunker a little bit. They couldnt get the bunker in the end.

The soldiers had to charge the bunker to finally take it(cant remember if they actually did). Think some of them got hurt.

3cm accuracy for a guided weapon is what they say, I guess not.

Posted by: jtw at January 27, 2006 3:19 PM

What kind of weirds me about this is the idea that 2 F/A-18's dumped their entire payload, including 20mm, on a batch of insurgents, but still found it necessary to fly back to base for more bombs and fly back out.

This isn't meant as a criticism of the Marine aviators at all, mind you. I realize that this sort of thing can happen, as it did during the repeated airstrikes in the battle at Roberts' Ridge during Anaconda. But jeez! What were those insurgents made of? Concrete?

Posted by: Edward Liu at January 27, 2006 3:08 PM

Good Morning Folks,

The Marines are doing an outstanding job in Agfahanistan and Iraq with the "improvised" A/F-18D. The problem is that the F-18 was designed as a short range Naval carrier based interceptor not a lottering attack platform. The guys from 3 MAW just up the street who have been flying these missions since the begaining of the GWOT and complain that thet are spending to much time in gas lines at 35,000 ft. and not enough time over the target.

It seems that the bad guys know how long they can be on station before going back to the tanker and time there mischief accordanly. That may account for the small amount of ordiance droped during a six month tour.

What these Marines would really like to have is a dedicated Attack platform that carries enough fuel to hang around for a while with out taking up hard points for fuel tanks. Also the Marines are much impressed by the 30mm canon on the A-10.

For now though only Santa Clause has their wish list.

ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

Posted by: Byron Skinner at January 27, 2006 3:02 PM