Sounds like you and my son have been hanging out. Either that or your're 8.

Well, it's not like I was making sound effects as i imagined the battle. Much.

I was wondering because the Abrams is considered to be the toughest tank around at present. What if we limit the A-10 to only using its main gun, no rockets or bombs? Would that make it an even fight?

Still no contest

Pilot has to keep one eye closed.

Any better?

Not really
30mm of badness

Yea, the A-10 would eat the tanks lunch.

Yeah, but what if the tanks had giant engines and wings and two 30mm canons and they one hundred million thousand billion feet per year?

Alright, guess who I sound like?


Seriously though the A 10 is an amazing plane. For comparison to another amazing plane, the P-51 Mustang, check out


General characteristics - P-51
Crew: 1
Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 0 in (11.28 m)
Height: 13 ft 4½ in (4.08 m:tail wheel on ground, vertical propeller blade.)
Wing area: 235 ft² (21.83 m²)
Empty weight: 7,635 lb (3,465 kg)
Loaded weight: 9,200 lb (4,175 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 12,100 lb (5,490 kg)

General characteristics - A-10
Crew: 1
Length: 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m)
Wingspan: 57 ft 6 in (17.53 m)
Height: 14 ft 8 in (4.47 m)
Wing area: 506 ft² (47.0 m²)
Empty weight: 24,959 lb (11,321 kg)
Loaded weight: 30,384 lb (13,782 kg) On CAS mission: 47,094 lb (21,361 kg)
On anti-armor mission: 42,071 lb (19,083 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 50,000 lb (23,000 kg)

Performance - P-51
Recommended Mach limit 0.8
Maximum speed: 437 mph (703 km/h) at 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
Cruise speed: 362 mph (580 km/h)
Stall speed: 100 mph (160 km/h)
Range: 1,650 mi (2,755 km) with external tanks
Service ceiling: 41,900 ft (12,800 m)
Rate of climb: 3,200 ft/min (16.3 m/s)
Wing loading: 39 lb/ft² (192 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.18 hp/lb (300 W/kg)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 14.6


Performance - A-10
Never exceed speed: 450 knots (518 mph,[88] 833 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) with 18 Mk 82 bombs[89]
Maximum speed: 381 knots (439 mph, 706 km/h) at sea level, clean[88]
Cruise speed: 300 knots (340 mph, 560 km/h)
Stall speed: 120 knots (138 mph, 220 km/h) [90]
Combat radius:
On CAS mission: 250 nmi (288 mi, 460 km) at 1.88 hour single-engine loiter at 5,000 ft (1,500 m), 10 min combat
On anti-armor mission: 252 nmi (290 mi, 467 km), 40 nm (45 mi, 75 km)) sea-level penetration and exit, 30 min combat
Ferry range: 2,240 nmi (2,580 mi, 4,150 km) with 50 knot (55 mph, 90 km/h) headwinds, 20 minutes reserve
Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,700 m)
Rate of climb: 6,000 ft/min (30 m/s)
Wing loading: 99 lb/ft² (482 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.36

General characteristics - P-51
Cost: $51,000

General characteristics - A-10
Cost: $ 156,000,000

:eek:

Wikipedia lists the A-10 at only $11.8 million each. In 1994 dollars.

From Foot's post:

Mustang carries maybe 700 kilos of munitions.

Thunderbolt carries up to 10,000 kilos.

Just a whole different league, really.

Oh yeah. What is interesting is when you look at two similarly sized planes, with similar top speeds, despite one of them having fucking ginormous engines it makes you think "There must be some reason for that."

ch'yeah. 10,000 kilos of reasons

I heard the plane described as a canon with a plane attached to it.

someone figure out what the dollar equivalents would be.

The second engine is to keep the A-10 from flying backward when the cannon is firing. :speechls:

TOW Missile

Attachment 35886

Well worth the cost.

Merc, I made a mistake in that post. Grav caught it above.

My Google results had the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet mixed in with the A-10.
The F-22 costs are on the order of $150M each