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Was the A-10 ever considered for export?


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Hey all

 

Re-reading Red Phoenix by Larry Bond, and in it, he mentions a South Korean A-10 unit, and it got me to thinking...Was the A-10 ever considered by other countries? Honestly, South Korea having A-10 makes sense, as North Korea has a HUGE standing army, and a butt load of tanks, and something similar to the events detailed in the book could actually happen...I mean, we still have A-10's stationed there to deter this kind of situation. 

 

Aaron 

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I don’t know the answer to your question, but the aircraft is low tech. Which means the government would not likely limit or prohibit export sales for fear of technological compromises, as they have with the F-22. So I think it’s more a case of no other government wanted to buy it. I’m sure lots of airforces wanted it, but no government was willing to pay for it. 

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39 minutes ago, airmechaja said:

Yes, Turkey and Greece were considered but both fell through.

The A-10 would look quite cool in the Greek three tone grey scheme.

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Don't forget that the A-10 had to compete with aircraft that could perform multiple roles and most smaller nations with limited  budgets couldn't afford an aircraft tasked with a single mission. Those countries that possibly could spend the money on a modest fleet of A-10's  already had aircraft in operation doing the same mission as the A-10 (examples: Harriers, A-4's,  A-7's etc). Sure they may not have had the firepower of the Warthog but they were bought and paid for and were doing fine in the roles those nations required of them. Having written all of that, I am kind of surprised that Israel never pursued (at least to my knowledge) the A-10 back in the day.

 

Regards,

Don

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I don't know about offers to any other countries, but 50 surplus A-10's from AMARG were definitely offered to Turkey right after the first Gulf War; when USAF really wanted to get rid of them.  This deal came very, very close to completion - Turkish Air Force sent a team to the US to take a look at the aircraft, and selected a number of them in relatively better condition.  An air base was selected to house them; and two squadrons were designated. Everything was going well, until the financial details of the deal were being worked out and the Turkish AF high command decided that the cost of refurbishing and maintaining the aircraft would be  too high.

 

They came to realize the magnitude of their mistake by the early 2000s and asked for the aircraft again. By that time the USAF was not about to give a single Warthog to anyone. 

 

If I am not mistaken, the offer cleared the Congress but I could not find any records. It certainly was listed in the SIPRI database (search for A-10 in this page)

 

PS: The deal was so close to completion that many in the aviation press assumed that it was a done deal. If you look at World Air Power Journal Volume 16 (A-10 focus issue), you will see that Turkey is listed as an A-10 operator 🙂

Edited by KursadA
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In the early 1980's the Air Force was attempting to give all A-10s to the Army, but only the airframes.  No pilots, no maintainers or anything else, just take them and go away.

 

Fortunately we still have this weapons system in the US inventory.

 

Michael A.

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When Australia was in the market for a Mirage III replacement in the late 70s/early 80s the A-10 was one of 12 or so types in the initial list of considered airframes. I think it was culled pretty early in the evaluation process, not sure if it was offered with another airframe to fill the air - air roles the A-10 lacked.

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The A-10s in South Korea were from the 25th T.F.S. who were transitioning out of the F-4 .  When they returned to the Pacific they were given the tail code OS for Osan Air Base.  They first showed up in the early 80s and would make occasional trips to Kadena A.B. to play with the units who would gather in Okinawa and soomwtimes just come over to shoot up the range at Ie Shima island and for the occasional aircraft display.

Somewhere along the way they were fitted with a large finned cap at the end ov their cannon's muzzle.

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4 hours ago, ikar said:

The A-10s in South Korea were from the 25th T.F.S. who were transitioning out of the F-4 .  When they returned to the Pacific they were given the tail code OS for Osan Air Base.  They first showed up in the early 80s and would make occasional trips to Kadena A.B. to play with the units who would gather in Okinawa and soomwtimes just come over to shoot up the range at Ie Shima island and for the occasional aircraft display.

Somewhere along the way they were fitted with a large finned cap at the end ov their cannon's muzzle.

Actually, the 25th TFS began A-10 operations from Suwon AB in 1981 until 1989, when most of it's A-10s were transferred to the 19 TASS to replace their OV-10 Broncos at Osan. However, in 1993, the 19 TASS was re-designated the 25 TFS.

The tail code for the 25th, while operating from Suwon was SU...….

suwon_hawg_by_f16crewchief-d3g27b2.jpg

A-10A-Warthog-Yokota-AFB-CKopp-1984-2S.j

A-10A-Warthog-Yokota-AFB-CKopp-1984-1S.j

assam_dragon__s_hawg_by_f16crewchief.jpg

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On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 10:46 AM, Michael A. said:

In the early 1980's the Air Force was attempting to give all A-10s to the Army, but only the airframes.  No pilots, no maintainers or anything else, just take them and go away.

 

Fortunately we still have this weapons system in the US inventory.

 

Michael A.

The matter was brought up again during the 1990s when there was a proposal for the Air Force to switch the A-10s for the Patriot missile system. The Army turned it down, in part, due to the cost of building and maintaining facilities for the aircraft.

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I remember in an old issue of Air International from the late 1970s that a list of declined US Foreign Military Sales was listed in their "Airscene" news column at the front of the magazine. If memory serves, both West Germany and Israel were listed as countries that had expressed interest in the A-10 but were declined (no reasons were given). Both of those countries would have been logical potential A-10 operators, given the geopolitical environment at the time.

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

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Well since what-if is just that I have plans for my A-10A N/AW by Trumpeter in 1/32nd. I am a big fan of Israel Air Force aircraft when they had the multi tone camos on almost everything. I think now it is only he F-16s and the F-15I sporting the camo. Everything is that new monotone drab brown or grey. Whatever, yuk, yuk and double yuk.

 

So my plan is to build the A-10a N/AW in a tritone camo used by the IAF. I know the kit is not great in a lot of respects but at this point I am not too concerned with that as I  just like that it is big. I normally build 1/48 and could get the Hobby Boss kit I guess bigger is better in this case. I will have to source decals but I think that would not be an issue. The kit comes with that evaluation scheme of overall gunship grey with owl markings on the nose. I figure the 2 seater would be great for the IAF scheme as it would be similar to their F-4 Phantoms. Anyway, big plans and we'll see how that goes.

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