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A-10C loaded with AGM-65 Mavericks


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Both the same wing, or one under each wing, but in the same position?  If the latter, probably just for balance.  Also, are both Mavericks the same, especially the same seeker heads?  There are different versions with different seekers.  I think the USAF uses both EO and IIR versions.

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Morning,

 

The reason for carrying two?  As Dave said, the Hogs use both IR (D & G) and EO (H & K) variants of the AGM-65 (the B-model EO's are effectively out of the inventory now). Having both on a training mission allows the pilot to train using both.

 

Balance isn't an issue, and you'll often see a Hog carrying just one training Maverick.

 

There's also the CATM-65L, but there are so few in the inventory that seeing one on a Hog is pretty uncommon.

 

- Tom

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In the above pictures, the missiles with the milky-orange seeker windows are IIR missiles (125-lb warhead D or 300-lb warhead G). The ones with clear windows are EO (H, which are 125-lb warhead Bs modified with an improved seeker or Ks with the same seeker and a 300-lb warhead).  Laser seekers (L for USAF E-2 for USN) also have clear windows, but the side of the seeker has LASER in large letters stenciled on the side.

Edited by mrvark
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This may be well dated information but having worked with the USAF Fighter Weapons School A-10 Branch back in 1986 at Ft. Hood, TX, Ft. Sill, OK, and at Nellis AFB, NV,

My Air Cav unit was the first unit to fielding the then brand new AH-64A Apache attack helicopter.  While working with the A-10 pilots, we were told that they could use the 

seeker heads (depending on which version was fitted to the aircraft) of the Maverick missiles for use not only in targeting but to also use as a poor mans vision system day or night,  so they may have had one of each of the current versions loaded to use for training as stated as as an added benefit as a vision sensor.

 

Steve Sliger

Greenwell Springs, LA

 

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In the above photo, is it just an illusion or are those A-10s painted in three shades of gray?  I thought only Light and Dark Ghost Gray were used on the "gray" scheme.  Has this scheme been updated?

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6 minutes ago, arg said:

In the above photo, is it just an illusion or are those A-10s painted in three shades of gray?  I thought only Light and Dark Ghost Gray were used on the "gray" scheme.  Has this scheme been updated?

Nope, it''s the standard two-tone gray.  The darker gray false canopy is visible on the bottom.

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19 minutes ago, arg said:

In the above photo, is it just an illusion or are those A-10s painted in three shades of gray?  I thought only Light and Dark Ghost Gray were used on the "gray" scheme.  Has this scheme been updated?

 

It seems a bit of a lighting illusion. The right sides of the both aircraft you can clearly see the light and dark ghost greys, while the bottoms do appear much lighter notwithstanding the false canopy. I'm suspecting they are flying low over snow covered ground and reflecting a lot of sunlight to give this effect. As a subject for my model project and collecting images of the 124 FW I noticed no other out of ordinary painting of their aircraft. Good observation.

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On 6/26/2021 at 3:51 PM, Craig Baldwin said:

Researching through images of more recent A-10C's and noticing they will carry inert(proper name?) blue striped AGM-65 Mavericks on both left and right wings. Any particular reason for carrying two? Redundancy?

 

Thank you. 

They carry two different seeker heads on each one.
One is IIR the other is Electro Optical.

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