Textron Scorpion, Replacement for the A-10?

[GoldenRivet]

While the development costs of the F-35 transformer jet have been estimated to exceed $395,000,000,000 and the program is plagued with delays... Textron has taken its crayons, sat quietly in the corner, and designed - built - flown - tested - demonstrated and marketed the Scorpion.

Notably absent from the scorpion design is "the big gun" - the primary weapon of the A-10 the GAU-8 30mm Avenger Cannon. But according to the article, the scorpion can carry similar strike guns in the form of pods attached to wing pylons when the mission requires the sort of personal touch that only depleted uranium can deliver.

Is the scorpion a suitable replacement for the A-10? maybe... the scorpion, like the Su-25, performs the same job as the A-10 but does so with a different approach.

But it's $20M price tag and estimated $3,000/hr operating costs must surely make the aircraft an attractive option in the budget minded era

What i admire most about the aircraft is the modest, "keep it simple, stupid" approach to its development - certainly as compared to the F-35

After more than four decades in service, the A-10 Warthog is due for a replacement. So says the U.S. Air Combat Command.


What's more, ACC says it's already "thinking about" fielding such a replacement. But what might that replacement be?


Last week, we got a clue. As reported by Reuters, the Air Force has recently begun evaluating Textron's (NYSE: TXT ) Scorpion fighter jet as a potential 21st-century replacement for the 20th-century Warthog.
Quoting Air Force Gen. Herbert Carlisle, head of ACC, Reuters reports that the Air Force has done "some research" on Textron's new budget-priced Scorpion. And Carlisle thinks the plane just might be what the Air Force needs to perform close-air support in "contested environments" that could prove lethal to the A-10.


But what exactly is Scorpion, and how does it stack up against the A-10 Thunderbolt Warthog?


Introducing Scorpion
Textron describes Scorpion as a modern "surveillance and strike" aircraft boasting:

• twin turbofan engines, producing 8,000 lbs. of combined thrust
• a 45,000-foot top altitude
• a top speed of 520 mph
• six hard points for carrying weapons on its wings (6,200 lbs. capacity)
• room for 3,000 lbs. more payload in an internal weapons bay
• a flyaway cost of less than $20 million -- and an hourly operations cost of about $3,000

Relative to the A-10 Warthog, Textron's Scorpion has about half as much engine power -- but also half the weight. The aircraft's range is roughly equal to the A-10's, but the Scorpion is a better "sprinter," featuring both a faster maximum speed and a slower "stall speed" -- important for flying low-and-slow on ground support missions.


Of course, the biggest difference between Scorpion and the A-10 Warthog is the absence of a "big gun" -- specifically, the 30 mm GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon that is both the A-10's primary weapon and its defining feature. Designed to kill Soviet tanks in a circa-1980s Cold War confrontation -- and actually used to destroy nearly 900 Soviet-vintage Iraqi tanks in the 1990s Gulf War I -- the A-10's big gun is notably absent from Textron's Scorpion.


But can Scorpion replace the A-10 Warthog without it?


Bill Anderson, president of Textron AirLand, thinks so. In a recent phone conversation, Anderson pointed out that Textron originally developed Scorpion to perform a "Multi Mission, ISR/strike platform" role. It thus was not designed to duplicate the A-10's mission; it prefers using precision weapons to attack ground targets from a safe distance out of range of enemy defenses.


That fact addresses the Air Force's concerns about the A-10 Warthog's survivability. And flying high and fast, Scorpion might be a good candidate to take over the A-10's role in some threat environments.


As Anderson explains it, "two abilities are critical" for any aircraft performing close-air support: "The ability to communicate with ground forces, and the ability to find and fix a target." Anderson argues that "Scorpion is very good in both these roles, and can loiter up to five hours," providing ground support as needed through its suite of high-tech, standoff weapons. What's more, while the aircraft doesn't carry an integrated 30 mm cannon, its modular design permits it to carry one or even two cannon "pods" on its wings, to provide a strafing ability when there's a need to get up close and personal.

article http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...0-warthog.aspx