AF Says, A-10 to stay 'indefinitely'

spkr22 · Nov 3, 2016

APACHERAT said: ↑

Sure have and during the real thing. One time with in 100 feet of the beaten path of the rounds. Mostly F-4's, F-8's, A-7's, A-4's and UH-1C and AH-1 Cobra gunships.

Have watched the A-10 Warthog conducting a strafing mission at the Nellis Range in Nevada.

The Air Force use to conduct an annual air combat competition every year out of Nellis AFB. USN and USMC not invited but all of the NATO air forces participated along with the Aussies. The events are AA, bombing strikes, strafing, etc. etc.

Not open to public but the local Las Vegas newspapers would report the results. But the strafing competition was conducted just north of Hyw. 95 near the Indian Springs AFS. And you could pull over the side of the road, open up the ice chest and consume a lot of beers and watch the strafing competition. Goods free entertainment.

What they had were tall telephone type poles with large white sheets strung across the poles, maybe 100' wide and 50' or more high. The aircraft would make a run at the targets then they would go out and count the holes and dispersion of the hits.

Watch three of these events over the years all during the 80's. One year the Canadians took first place. Forget what kind of aircraft they were flying. The other times USAFR A-7's took first place. The last competition I watched the A-10 participated. What a show, I give it a D ticket. (An E ticket being the highest like watching an Iowa class BB firing a nine 16" gun broadside or the detonation of a nuclear weapon) When those 30 mm rounds hit the ground each round sounded like an explosion and then you heard the ripping sound of the A-10's 30 mm cannons. The target, just one big hole, you couldn't count the individual hits.

BTW, the A-7 won the competition that day.
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That is amazing, I've seen it live when my dad took me to watch when I was younger. He participated in Red Flag out at Nellis when he was in the USAF, and living a minute from Langley AFB my whole life has been a real treat. I've watched countless planes of different type fly over the skies of my home. It was especially fun to be out on the bay with my friends and watch F-22s dogfight F-16s during training exercises.

APACHERAT · Nov 3, 2016

Questerr said: ↑

Vietnam was a low intensity conflict. 99% of it was guerrilla warfare.
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Obvious you weren't there and have either been indoctrinated in school with cultural-marxism revisionist history or by the Hollywood left which is cultural-marxism.

The NVA army was a real army organized into divisions, regiments and maneuver battalions with artillery regiments, armor, Motor Transport, supply, engineers, etc. Just like an American army division.

Then you had the VC. Main force VC who wore uniforms but lacked their own artillery. Regional Force VC, these were the gooks who committed most of the atrocities against their own South Vietnamese civilian.

Then you had the VC guerrilla fighters. Farmers during the day time and guerrilla fighters at night. These were the black pajama clad guerrilla fighters.

I served my entire tour of duty in l-Corps. -> http://www.vietnambattlefieldtours.com/tours/ctz/zones.asp

North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong
Order of Battle (1965 - 1975)

Since much of this is based on MACV intelligence, the way that they classified units is worth quoting.

North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Units: A unit formed, trained and designated by North Vietnam as an NVA unit and composed completely or primarily of North Vietnamese.

Viet Cong (VC) Units: A unit formed and trained in South Vietnam.whose original personnel composition consisted primarily of people residing in South Vietnam.

Main Force (MF) Units: Those VC or NVA military units which are directly subordinate to Central Office South Vietnam (COSVN), a Viet Cong military region, military sub-region, or front.

Local Foce (LF) Units: Those VC or NVA military units which are directly subordinate to province and district party committees and normally operate within the territorial jurisdiction of their respective control headquarters.

Guerillas were noted as being separate from all of the units listed in the enemy order of battle, usually organized into platoons and squads and directly subordinate to the party apparatus at village and hamlet levels.

NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY and VIETCONG Jan 1968

In Jan 1968, month of the Tet offensive, the number of confirmed battalions was shown by MACV as:

I CTZ: 16 VC and 53 NVA maneuver battalions
II CTZ: 15 VC and 35 NVA maneuver battalions
III CT: 39 VC and 20 NVA maneuver battalions
IV CTZ: 29 VC maneuver battalions
Somewhat earlier, in Mar 1967, sapper units had included Brigade 305, Regiment 426, and nine battalions under control of the Sapper Branch (Known as Sapper Command in the MACV listing), and there may have been other sapper units under B-2 Front.

By Jan 1969 68B and 368B Rocket Regiments were in I CTZ.

A South Vietnamese source shows the following units available in Jan 1973, grouped by ARVN CTZ.

I CTZ: 7 infantry and 1 AA divisions; 6 infantry, 3 sapper, 6 artillery, 2 armor, and 12 AA separate regiments
II CTZ: 3 infantry divisions; 5 infantry, 1 sapper, 2 artillery and 1 armor separate regiments
III CTZ: 2 infantry, 1 sapper and 1 artillery divisions; 8 infantry, 2 sapper, 2 artillery and 1 armor regiments
IV CTZ: 2 infantry divisions and 11 separate infantry regiments
Units identified included M26 Armor Brigade, 75th Artillery Division, 377th AA Division, 5th Engineer Division and 27th Sapper Division.

Artillery was estimated at 430 122mm and 130mm guns. Armored vehicles of all types were estimated at 655 (including APC's and artillery tractors; this total also includes items such as the 152mm D20 gun-howitzer and 10mm T12 anti-tank gun).

The source indicates that the NVA introduced "20 more" AA regiments following the cease-fire.

Sapper units under direct control of B-2 Front (Southern Regional Headquarters) prior to the 1975 spring offensive included 12 regiments or equivalents and 36 battalions. These were apparently in addition to any units under control of the Sapper Branch.

TANK BRIGADES

Tank Brigade 202 first saw action 1971 in Laos (Battalion 397). It participated in the Easter Offensive 1972 and the spring 1975 final offensive.

Tank Brigade 203 also saw action in Laos early 1971 (Battalions 198 and 297) and served in the 1975 spring offensive.

There is surprisingly little available on North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong TOEs. A company in the 1965-66 era has been shown as having a headquarters (25), heavy weapons platoon (40), and three platoons (35 each), for a strength of 170. Heavy weapons were 3 60mm mortars and 3 MMG's in the weapons platoon and 3 57mm recoilless rifles in headquarters. The estimated average strength of Viet Cong battalions in summer 1965 was 425 personnel. One battalion in the Ia Drang battle in 1965 had 600 personnel, including porters. An NVA battalion in 1965 had a full strength of 555 personnel. A regiment included 18 12.7mm AAMG and at least 11 mortars. Divisions included an AA battalion (composition unknown) and a 120mm mortar battalion.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/vietnam/nva-orbat.htm
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Johnny Brady · Nov 3, 2016

Any computer wargamers here? I've put in 900+ hours on the Armed Assault III King of the Hill online servers this year. Modern thermal sights and shoulder-launched AT and AA missiles make todays battlefield an absolutely lethal environment..
Armed Assault screenshot, I tell my boys- "Fight with your brain first and your weapons second"

Questerr · Nov 3, 2016

APACHERAT said: ↑

Obvious you weren't there and have either been indoctrinated in school with cultural-marxism revisionist history or by the Hollywood left which is cultural-marxism.

The NVA army was a real army organized into divisions, regiments and maneuver battalions with artillery regiments, armor, Motor Transport, supply, engineers, etc. Just like an American army division.

Then you had the VC. Main force VC who wore uniforms but lacked their own artillery. Regional Force VC, these were the gooks who committed most of the atrocities against their own South Vietnamese civilian.

Then you had the VC guerrilla fighters. Farmers during the day time and guerrilla fighters at night. These were the black pajama clad guerrilla fighters.

I served my entire tour of duty in l-Corps. -> http://www.vietnambattlefieldtours.com/tours/ctz/zones.asp
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The fact that they were organized does not change the fact that the vast majority of the fighting was guerilla warfare. There were extremely few open battles during Vietnam.

APACHERAT · Nov 3, 2016

Questerr said: ↑

The fact that they were organized does not change the fact that the vast majority of the fighting was guerilla warfare. There were extremely few open battles during Vietnam.
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I usually don't like refighting the Vietnam War before I hit the fart sack, for obvious reasons.

But most of these wouldn't be classified as low intensity operations or battles and their were few VC guerrilla forces involved. They were to busy attending their rice paddies.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/resources/operations/table.php

https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/electronic-data-files.html

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AF Says, A-10 to stay 'indefinitely'

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AF Says, A-10 to stay 'indefinitely'

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AF Says, A-10 to stay 'indefinitely'