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A-10s Get The Laser Of Death
   Next Article → WEAPONS: 9mm To Nowhere

November 20, 2008: The U.S. A-10C has successfully dropped its first JDAM (Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition). The main difference between JDAM and LJDAM is the sensor unit. The GPS sensor on JDAM is replaced with a laser seeker sensor, turning the JDAM into the LJDAM. The aircraft dropping the bomb uses its laser designator to track the moving target, and the LFDAM bomb hits the moving target. LJDAM can hit a vehicle moving at about 60 kilometers an hour. LJDAM entered service two years ago. It will be useful against enemy convoys of moving vehicles, since the smallest LJDAM uses a 500 pound bomb. A-10Cs will begin using LFDAM next year.

The A-10C began operating in Iraq and Afghanistan last year. This is a version of the A-10 with upgraded electronics. The A-10 can fly low and slow, and is designed, and armored, to survive lots of ground fire. The troops trust the A-10 more than the F-16, or any other aircraft used for supporting the ground troops. The new goodies for the A-10C equip the pilot with the same targeting and fire control gadgets the latest fighters have. The new A-10C cockpit has all the spiffy color displays and easy to use controls. The basic A-10 is a three decade old design, so the new stuff is quite spectacular in comparison. New commo gear is installed as well, allowing A-10 pilots to share pix and vids with troops on the ground. The A-10 can now use smart bombs, making it a do-it-all aircraft for troops support.

While newly equipped A-10s showed up last year, it will take four more years to upgrade all 350 aircraft in service. Beyond that, the air force is upgrading the engines and structures of the 1970s era aircraft. All the upgrades will cost about $13 million per aircraft. The air force has been trying to retire the ugly, and elderly, aircraft for over a decade. But the A-10s are just too damn effective, and popular, when there's actually a war on.

The A-10 could always take out moving vehicles with its 30mm automatic cannon. But this requires getting down and within a few hundred meters of the target. The LJDAM enables the A-10 to stay out of range of ground fire to do the job, and also deliver a bigger bang to the target.

Next Article → WEAPONS: 9mm To Nowhere
  

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The Drill SGT    SAR   11/20/2008 12:45:23 PM
The A-10 has one other group that does like it.  It is a great SAR mission plane.  Can come in low, mix it up with ground forces trying to get to the pilot, and can loiter with tight banking turns.
 
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Phaid       11/20/2008 7:42:54 PM
The GPS sensor on JDAM is replaced with a laser seeker sensor, turning the JDAM into the LJDAM.
 
Well, no.  The LJDAM retains its GPS capability, but adds an additional laser seeker.  This allows the weapon to be targeted to a GPS coordinate, a laser spot, or even both in the same launch.  The tests performed on the A-10 involved hitting a moving target by first feeding the bomb a GPS coordinate and launching it, and then later painting the target with a laser which the LJDAM started tracking instead.
 
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dwightlooi       12/9/2008 8:24:51 PM
I hope they put the new Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engines on the A-10 replacing the TF34s. The 56" fan version of the PW1000G has a thrust rating ranging from 14~17,000 lbs. This represents a 50~75% thrust increase over the 49" TF34. The engine is also 20~25% more fuel efficient and quieter. Retain the commercial thrust reversers and you upped short runway capabilities up a notch. The PW1000G uses a gearbox between the low pressure spool and the fan to reduce the speed of the fan and increase that of the low pressure spool. It has 2/3 as many compressor stages and probably lower MTBO.
 
While we are at it, I am not sure if we should keep the 30x173mm GAU-8 or go to a bigger caliber, slower firing, gun like the Bushmaster III chaingun firing the 50x330mm at 200 rpm.
 
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doggtag       12/10/2008 8:26:09 AM
Several months/couple years ago,
there was talk of an improved TF34 for the A-10s,
with a suggested thrust exceeding 11,000 pounds (5400-5500kg, maybe?).
 
Not really sure what we are going for in A-10 improvements that the C-model electronics/sensors upgrade doesn't cover.
Is a heavier payload desired? (what? 16,000 pounds ain't enough???)
Because the Boeing contract to development replacement wings would be the area to concern with if heavier payloads are the desire.
And with 11 current underwing and under-fuselage hardpoints, how many more are really needed?
(3 under the fuselage side-by-side under the wing junction, 3 each outboard wings beyond the main landing gear, one inboard each wing between the main gear "pods" and fuselage.)
 
Is higher speed being preferred?
At their onset into service, there were A-10 attritions due to pilots not being able to react fast enough at such low levels and high speeds (~350mph?) and there were aircraft lost in ground impacts (don't have exact numbers, but it was cause for concern early in the program).
 
Bigger-caliber gun needed?
Already, it was found out that the guns' destructive capability didn't need the full 4200rpm rate of fire, and today it's more common to fire at ~3900rpm max (derated gun drive motor?), which saves both the gun's barrel life and ammunition stocks.
 
There is little armor out there today (or under development) that can withstand that magnitude of top attack (turret roof, hatches, engine decking, roof-mounted sensors, etc) from 30x173mm ammunition in those numbers (dozens of rounds in a single pass, depending on target).
 
Current concerns over DU hazards have "temporarily" withdrawn the original DU-cored AP rounds from frontline/everyday service (don't know if it's an official decision, or just the USAF trying to be PR & eco-friendly),
with HE/Incendiary types actually being more desireable for most current ground support work today.
But if push comes to shove and heavy armor threats come back to the battlefield, I'm willing to bet the USAF will readily bring the DU-cored rounds back into frontline everyday use (that, or possibly some all-new design using those reactive materials that aren't as much cause for concern as DU).
 
Much as I do like the potential in the Bushmaster III 50mm gun (in both 50x330 "SuperShot" config, and that developmental C-RAM hybrid gun using a longer case and firing a longer, prototype guided round),
perhaps if it's deemed a larger caliber gun is more preferrable, then an aerial development of the "new" 57mm naval gun would offer all the punch power needed?
A 3 or 4 round burst from that would ruin anyone's day...but a ship target still stands to suffer much more from a long 30mm strafing burst all along its length that just a few hits of 50-57mm.
Even with sufficient up-armoring, though, it's doubtful any current or projected MBT could withstand 50-57mm AP rounds coming down thru its roof.
Many other land vehicles (or even helicopters and aircraft) would only need 1 or 2 hits of that caliber to be a total loss.
 
What we'd almost be worth considering at that point, might be a new CAS design altogether.
If the notion of a heavy gun is a necessity, then it would most likely be a manned platform (meaning additional armor protection.
Possibly even a smaller aircraft, maybe with that new 40mm CTA gun firing the compact ammunition (or even with the 50mm Bushmaster SS).
But if a big gun isn't needed (over-reliant on PGMs), then UAVs will be the answer.
 
Borrowing from the realms of scifi & anime,
the Ghost in the Shell series had a helicopter called a Jigabachi ( here's a link for a model of one, and here's a link with the gun "stinger" deployed ),
that featured a wasp-like gunpod that retracted up under the fuselage, much like the abdomen and stinger of a real wasp.
When deployed, the pod had a large caliber shell-firing gun that had unlimited traverse underneath.
With the compact cased telescopic ammunition that both the 40mm CTA and 50mm Bushmaster SS use, the ammo can be effectively stacked in like the 20mm and 30mm ammunition drums common in US designed aircraft (the reason for the jigabachi's "stinger" to be drum shaped like that).
 
This design could provide a very capable cannon
 
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