NEW Attack Plane: The Sky Warden - Better Than A10 Warthog?
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- Опубліковано 29 жов 2022
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So Which Is Cooler? A10 or The Sky Warden?
Sky warden
BRRRRT
Yes.
My loyalty will always be to the Gun.
My heart will always belong to the A-10... The Sky Warden is pretty nifty though
Dusty Crophopper has had enough
For sure never anger dusty crophopper
Actually it's his evil twin, Dusty Carpetbomber
Damn, beat by 30 minutes
Like I said, Planes 3: Close Support when?
This is what him and Skipper were really training for. He did the fire rescue to learn how to bomb.
So let's take this into perspective.... If you count the number of registered hunters in the cornfield known as Nebraska you have the 7th largest army in the world.....
Now you gave them air support....
'Murica
NEBRASKA!!! GO BIG RED!!!
My Dad liked the Sky Raiders in Korea he said they were an awsome close air support asset. I believe this guy will be too
@@franklinwelfl8284 Sky Raiders shot down a Mig-17 once during Vietnam. Some sluggish propeller planes knocked down a jet...impressive
@@Chino56751 thats what I understand. Dad liked em because they could carry tons of ordinance and come in low strafe the hell out of positions.
Lol, and that's not counting all the crazy red necks in the South on a Saturday morning in th fall! If someone or something ever invades the Gulf Coast, its going to be hilarious seeing the thousands long line of rednecks, on the ATVs, with their ARs and hunting rifles and shotguns, come charging out of the forests and swamps guns a blazing!
They'll finish up in time to make it back to their interrupted tailgating before their SEC football games!
Southerners are serious abut tailgating, bbq, and college football! Routing foreign invaders? Meh! Just another story to brag (lie) about between who shot the biggest buck or caught the biggest fish!
It's like the Pentagon watched the Disney Plane's movie and that scene where he lands on an Aircraft Carrier got someone there thinking. It's cheap, reliable, tough, can operate from a dirt patch, stay on station forever, and carry enough ordinance to cover a platoon.
I've seen the civilian crop duster this is based on in action. The speed and precision these fly on their runs is impressive. If you've seen it, it's not a stretch to imagine one coming in low and fast to give some much needed fire support.
Ag pilots do it day in and day out when 'tis the season.
Now they just need to get the ag pilots to fly them that put hundreds of hours in them every year
To me it looks about as tough menacing and capable as a fluffy kitten.
@@adrianh332 Given what kittens did to my first apartment, that's high praise indeed!
@@govsquid Nice one mate 😂👍
"Groot got taken out by the Wright brothers"
And I died laughing at this line. 🤣
As originally implemented in World War Two, where a guy strapped half a dozen bazookas to his scout plane and started yeeting them at tanks.
I believe that was ww1 and it was the first instance of planes being used for combat.
After that everyone started strapping guns to their planes.
@@kyriss12 Nope, WWII for the bazookas: ua-cam.com/video/1sFJ3Oe6R-M/v-deo.html Definitely WWI for the spicy peashooters, though.
@@kyriss12 my good man. I believe you are referring to the first recorded use of aircraft mounted rockets. And while it was someone using what could now be considered glorified fireworks, it was not bazookas mounted to the plane.
They were effective counters to one thing the german empire used a lot.
Zeppelins.
The WW1 rockets were basically just fireworks designed for wartime that they used as counters to Zeppelin air fleets alongside incendiary ammunition, as the zeppelin was, by that point, considered indestructible against conventional ammunition.
WW1 rockets and incendiary ammo gave a whole new meaning to the term "kill it with fire"!
Bazooka Charlie
@@williamthehuntsman He’s not talking about the first recorded use of rockets, he’s talking about in world war 2 a man jerry rigged bazookas onto his L4 Grasshopper reconnaissance plane.
From one form of pest control to another. Makes perfect sense to me.
Depending on prevailing agenda, the pest may be US.
@@spacerconrad I didn't wanna say nothin... but that does seem to be the prevailing attitude of this administration, doesn't it...?
As a guy who has made a living for a couple of years picking up crashed Air Tractors out of bean fields, I can completely attest to the absolute brute strength of the Air Tractor AT-802 airframe. If you're going to fly something into harm's way, there's virtually nothing better to do it in than an armored Air Tractor. BTW, Fat Electrician, your commentary had me in tears of laughter. Keep it up, dude!!!
>> there's virtually nothing better to do it in than an armored Air Tractor...
Except an A-10.
If the sky Warden can circle the battlefield for 6 hours
That's kind of like a vulture just circling waiting for something to die or in this case helping that happen
The thing I realized about this Wisconsin Night Rider is that it can comfortably fly between 100 and 180 mph... while the little bird can top out at 175. That means ls you can have this corn-feeding freedom seed flying IN FORMATION with some killer eggs. Uncle Sam's spec ops value meal just got a whole lot more whirley and a lot more unhealthy.
I prayed to the lord as soon as I read "whirly" that the next word in line would be "dirly"
.... Okay, GOOD FUCKING LORD. That's a wonderfully scary thought.
I'm very happy
@@hubertcumberdale6404 Whirly dirly yourself.
I had no idea where this was going at the start, but I loved every moment after. The Crop Duster Air Force is going to be the world’s newest grave threat.
They can kill you, and then fertilize your remains to grow food for the survivors!
Imagine that in an action movie:
"Sir, what shall we do?"
*Send in the **_Cropduster_*
No threat, just graves. (had to)
Nope only American citizens, this was built to go to war against a people with no air defense at all like no missiles just guns. Think about it, it's not stealthy 🤔
Recruit outta Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas them crop dusters are nucking futs now 😂😂😂
The A-1 Skyraider was arguably the best ground attack aircraft in Vietnam. It was basically a modified Navy WWII torpedo bomber that saw service from 1946 - the early 1980s. For much the same reasons. It's tough, cheap, reliable, and versatile. When you own the airspace over a battlefield, this is what you want.
I would've dusted off the blueprints for the Skyraider and had production restarted after introducing some upgrades.
@@Battleship009 That would have been a smarter move, yes. Never underestimate the DOD to spend more money than it has to on something that already exists.
It's nice to know know that even when it's turned into a weapon of war, the Sky Warden is still performing the primary duty it was originally designed for, which is to help crops grow by delivering nutrients from the sky to the ground. The only difference is instead of dropping liquid chemical fertilizer, it is now dropping bombs from the sky that'll turn the guts and blood of enemies on into fertilizer on the ground.
Can we make John Deers into howitzers next? Im sure one country would absolutely love that idea
I wish
During WWII that was actually almost a thing, they made armored John Deere tractors with 30 caliber machine gun turrets and the idea was you could use them as a support vehicle where a tank would be unsuited due to size.
They actually became tank training vehicles for gunners and I think there are 2 still preserved and running to this day.
I heard there's plans to replace Humvees with up-armored John Deere Tractors.
The French paradropped Vespa scooters with a 75mm recoilless rifle attached to them, that's not too far off.
John D-155mm. For when plowing gets punishing
As a farmer and someone working on his pilot's license... I. FREAKING. LOVE. THIS!!
If I win the Powerball, I'm seeing how I can buy one 😅
According to the 2nd amendment you SHOULD be able to own one provided you can afford it and the ammunition for one.
@@ReformedSooner24 Mmm... will they let you take it to AirVenture at Oshkosh? 🤣
@@MrGaryGG48 You can't buy the AT-802U, but you can buy it's older brother. Civilians can buy the IOMAX Archangel 3 (a Thrush S2R-T600). Both Air Tractor and Thrush's planes were designed by Lealand Snow
Can you paint real tree on top and real sky on the bottom for hunting season I mean 😅
I am sure that the U.S military wouldn’t mind a new sky warden pilot that one day ends up in a fat electrician video about how you killed 20 tanks with this thing.
Been watching 802's fighting wild land fire for year out here in south eastern Arizona. Them planes can flat out kick butt! Low altitude, extremely maneuverable, not the fastest but it can hang around for 2 baseball games!
I believe we are going to very happy we have these things!
Manufactured in the small town of Olney, Texas. I live just a few miles away and have lots of friends and family working there. Big source of pride for our area.
“The Sky Warden is basically an up armored Sky Tractor”
That takes “plowing a$$ like a Nebraskan corn farmer” to a whole new level
It's a Toyota pickup with wings
When you have a field that needs fertilizing at noon, but an enemy compound needs a perma-snooze at 3pm
That green grass ain't gonna grow by itself XD
We used to have something like that in the Marine corps back when I was in it was called the OV10 Bronco. It was a great little plane. The DEA uses them now. Jake should do a comparison of the Bronco and the Sky Warden.
Cuz used to work on them
@@jayjones6904 I did too at Camp Pendleton. Worked on the props and flight controls.
The A-37 will always be my favorite, followed by the A-7 and Harrier II, but I really like the Sky Warden as well. Although I'd have liked more of the OV-10G+ modernized Broncos, the Sky Warden certainly doesn't disappoint!
ATF tried to acquire Broncos to use against citizens in the 1990s.
Now, feds are getting this plane to support feds against citizens.
So, yeah, get happy.
My cousin flys the regular air tractor as a crop duster. He’s a crazy pilot. Made me fall in love with the plane and when I found out about the Sky Warden I fell more in love.
@Captain MufDyven I just found a video describing this. You're right. It sounds like a tractor starting up...
AG pilots are the civilian fighter pilots, I live in Amarillo TX and I love watching them fly under power lines and pull high yoyos. I also love that the plane is called a fucking Air Tractor.
Another common use of a air tractor is towing up sailplanes. During my lessons ,we had one doing the work. It could tow up some uavs or glide bombs. The acrobatics of duster planes and pilots is amazing.
this man will never run out of content, I'm just imagining him making videos still, a decade later, talking about how badass a stick is
YOU KNOW HOW MANY SPLINTERS THIS THING WILL GIVE YOU?!
Shadiversity and TheFatElectrician crossover?
Use stick!! Stick Very Good!! What is a nunchuck but a stick with erectile disfunction?!
If you put a nail or screws in a stick is it uplevelled weapon?
back in my day we didn't have any fancy shmancy tanks. we had a STICK, two sticks and a rock, and we had to SHARE the rock.
The only thing this guy has all figured out is how to be fat, he seems to be advancing on being stupid rather quickly.
If only he would focus on being an electrician as much as he hates his life.
The air tractor is a sweet platform. Not only do they make this spicy little nugget but they also modified them to drop water for wildfires they call it the fire boss. Just had a couple fly over my house to put out a small fire a few miles out of Spokane. Domestic or global air tractor is going to get it done it would seem.
You have some of the best content on UA-cam. I think I have watched literally every video you've produced. I was medically unfit to serve but I have friends that served and I have absolutely mad respect for you people.
It’s cool seeing the return to taking farming equipment and weaponizing it.
Ordered a Fur Musket shirt and a patch last week. Hoping to get those in soon, but saw that Bunker Branding might be running a little slow.
should have them around 10th of Nov ish. I appreciate the support
@@the_fat_electrician sweet. Thanks for the heads-up, and keep being awesome!
Yeah, like how tractors in Ukraine capturing T-72's.
@@the_fat_electrician i just cant i first heard em called fur missles and musket is just a nerf.
The first Tank Little Willie was basically a modified farm tracker.
And let's not forget the greatest tank ever made, The Bob Semple
I seen these hitting forest fires rigged as water bombers in my neighbourhood.
They skim in formation and pummel hard. Less capacity than the big c9 or the Mars, but when you have 6 of them and they can do a turnaround 3x faster it adds up fast!
They can pick from smaller water bodies and manoeuvre through mountains better too, from smaller runways.
As you said, cheap to maintain and less fuel too.
So cool to watch!
And cost way less to maintain than the Martin Mars lol.
We had several flying on our second fire this spring in southwest Nebraska.
If you can keep their support rigs supplied, they can be back in the air in minutes.
We should get some in Idaho. Lots of crop dusters and fires.
Just want to clarify a small technical detail regarding the Sky Warden. It uses a jet engine. In the aviation world, it's called a "Turbo Prop" because they hooked up a turbojet engine to a propeller. WW2 planes would be called "Piston" airplanes because they use pistons to turn the props.
So, despite the big ol' fan at the front, it is not using an old-school ICE like you would find in a P-51 or a modern MX-5.
I've seen the maneuvering abilities of both, and the crop duster can turn circles inside of the A10. I can't wait to hear about its combat record when the time comes.
Just imagine what Russell Casse could have done with one of those in Independence Day.
"All right, you Alien Bastards! In the words of my generation: UP YOURS!!!"
@27meters As a huge ID4 fan that saw it first in the theater, I didn’t even know about this nugget of info until recently. I usually end up watching it 3-4 times a year.
When I detassled (plucking the tassels off of the top of corn plants, it's a summer job in the Midwest of the United States) and we saw a crop duster in the distance, my bus driver, who was basically the supervisor, would yell out "Japanese Zero!", and we would all hide or duck for cover as a little joke. I thought it was funny because we had to wear florescent orange so it would be easier to find us if someone got lost. Now I'm starting to think he may have known something we didn't
L3Harris in Waco TX made one of these. I spoke with one of the project leads about it once... the freaking hoops they had to jump through to engineer this thing are impressive enough. Can't wait to hear about its service record soon.
Those little cameras you pointed out is not ISR equipment. It's part of the Common Missle Warning System. It alerts the countermeasures system of incoming missle signatures to automatically deploy flares or fire directed energy to defeat guided missles.
When I was in Afghanistan in 2006, I constantly harped how just an old WW II ground attack design updated with today's avionics would be better. It would be easy to fly off the "airfields" (if you're being charitable) left over from the Soviet era, easy to train the ANA to fly and we were going after people in Toyotas, motorcycles and on foot. Using an A-10 would be like using a flamethrower on an anthill. Not to mentioned given what happened while I was there, I'd take a bunch of ANA flying off the unimproved airfield 20 miles away from our base than hoping that maybe, perhaps, occasionally USAF might actually respond to our requests for air support. (i.e. almost never) That and with the time frame involved, getting a prop-plane ready and in the air, we could be on target before the jets at Baghram could be half-way to us.
Before I left, the brainiacs in USAF were thinking of buying/creating a ground attack plane...which had nothing but missiles! Really? Obviously they had never even been in a simulated ground attack. Even though it turned out to be one of our planes and not the OPFOR, I remember back when I was in a training op in Hohenfels watching a plane come in low to attack that there was almost nothing I could do. As it turns out, they were attacking people about to attack us but I'll never forget that feeling of helplessness at looking at that plane coming in and knowing it was so much easier for it to kill us than we to kill them.
I've been a military history buff since the early 70's as a kid and I've read a LOT of accounts that being strafed is one of the biggest morale killers ever. A missile isn't that much different than artillery; it's impersonal. A plane is something you see coming, you get the fear and even if you survive, you remember that fear and helplessness.
So yeah, more risk, but being strafed w/plain old (and cheap) .50cal rounds would be a LOT better.
I do remember the Chieftain (armored combat historian) talking about WW2 armor vs aircraft and how neither really killed the other thanks to inefficient air weapons and inefficient anti-air weapons, but one thing that was always worth while if you had ammo was to shoot at the plane if he came in to attack with guns or cannons. Anything you can do to throw off his aim, no matter how slightly, could save your life. Would it help? Probably not, but it is something.
50's cheaper but I think 20mm gets more bang for the buck with ground attack. Probably? I might be splitting hairs here.
"which had nothing but missiles!"
Missiles are more accurate and more precise. A10 with its 30mm is known for causing friendly deaths because of how wide the dispersal on the 30mm canon is. It's literally bigger than an explosion from a missile.
Which also means many of those aren't hitting what you want them to.
I'll take the missiles any day.
@@thysonsacclaim yeah they also are expensive and can be prone to error
@@CODYoungGunna Modern missiles almost never fail. A bomb is more likely to be a dud than a missile is to have an error. Hell, almost all of the A-10's armor kills are from P.G.M's. There's a reason why the U.S.A.F has been begging congress to just get rid of the piece of shit.
I have seen a lot of pushback about this move, but honestly it was needed years ago. The A-10 fleet was just getting run into the dirt with sorties. Having something like this to provide CAS and keeping the A-10 for missions that it is required for will help out so much.
this isn't replacing the a10 I just think it's vooler
The destruction that would be two of these and two A-10s called on the same target area. Anatomical confetti everywhere.
It's a Toyota Hilux with wings
One spots the other shoot. Ok who strapped wings on a sniper team?
Tanks? A10, no tanks? Sky Warden it is!
Reminiscent of the Douglas SkyRaider, Very Effective Up Close.👍👍
Some things most people miss about the Skywarden. As small turboprop plane, it gives off a very, very small IR signature. That makes it very resistant to IR guided MANPADS. It's able to fly low and slow enough to exchange hand signals with ground troops. That prop that makes to look so old is the secret to it's power. Propeller planes are much more effecient than jets and lower speed. That's why it has that absurd loiter time. For less money, you could put 4 or 5 of these in the air than a single A-10. Skywardens will be capable of performing most of the offensive roles an A-10 could. That cannon is largely overrated because it's just damned cool. If it should encounter something it doesn't have the ordinance for, it has the option of calling in a strike from a fast mover like an F-35 or B1. With it's sensors, it can provide targeting data for those planes long before they get on site. Given that it should be fitted with hellfires and small diameter bombs, it should be able to kill anything short of a heavy reinforced building.
So yeah, this thing is going to be far more effective than A-10s and a fraction of the cost.
I believe I also heard that the Sky Warden was going to be used in place of jets for low risk patrol areas. Instead of sending a super expensive fighter jet around to do that, they could send them to a current battlefront and let the warden do the patrolling.
Honestly, I think the Sky Warden will end up being the Air Force equivalent to the Army’s (now retired) OH-58 Kiowa (my second favorite bird behind the Little Bird). Sky Wardens (just as Kiowa’s) would fly ahead of a large strike force mark targets, hit enemy air defenses, support spec ops before moving out of the way and letting large strike aircraft and bombers do their jobs.
My favorite also, Air Cav 🤠
That's pretty much exactly what they're for.
Isn't the Kiowa the Bell OH-58?
@@rafaucett yes it is the OH-58. Thank you for letting me know.
@@rafaucett yes
I used to service a hanger when I had a Snapon franchise and they had these planes in development with a private company. At the time they were still yellow but had all the mounts on the wings and they had replaced the chem tanks that would have held pesticides with fuel tanks hence, the crazy loitering time. When I asked about the planes they wouldn’t say much. I could see the weapons mounts for myself and the fuel tank thing was all they’d say. This was around 2010-11
I literally JUST watched the Pixar Planes with my kids this had me in TEARS
YOU ARE MY NEW FAVORITE COMEDIAN
I work at a small airport, and I had to put fuel in these things they are massive for what they are. They are bigger than our fuel truck and it’s a Chevy c-70 with a fuel tank on the back that holds around 3,000 gallons of jet fuel. And these things have a ridiculously short take of and landing distance for their size. I need a shirt of this thing immediately.
This was a fun/great review I'd fly one ... if i was a pilot! Outstanding @ 2:11 in the video is hilarious! Thank you.
Dude, I love your sense of humor. Thanks for what you do.
I'm wheezing at the concept of a Killer Crop Duster, but what scares me is how much it's been very thought out like: "Hey, is there an engineer that worked for Pixar in the room?" 😅
I had been originally rooting for the restart of OV-10 Bronco production for this roll, but considering the cost of operation the DOD made the right choice. This really is the ultimate COIN plane for a modern era.
Personally I think they should have given the PA48 Enforcer a shot. but loved the Broncos too.
@@usernamunavailiable The only problem with the PS48 is that a whole new set of jigs would have had to have been made to start building them. At least with the OV-10 Boeing has all the jigs in storage so that they can just restart production, the only problem with the Bronco is the maintenance would have been much higher given the 2 turboprops. With the Sky Warden the base plane is already in production, and as a crop-duster it is built to have the sh!t kicked out of it and still get back up into the air the next day.
If the Edgley EA-7 Optica could be put back into production it would make a good COIN, observation, and light ground attack plane. It's smaller and slower than the Air Tractor but has an 8+ hour loiter time.
@@acarrillo8277 the OV-10 Bronco is already in heavy use by CAL FIRE for it's long loiter times for fire surveillance. Though the Sky Warden must have parts available for it world wide given it's extensive use as a crop duster. Would be awesome to see a few painted in crop duster colors strapped down with missiles. Would be a great psychological attack.
Watching these at work is just a try not to laugh challenge
Enemy 1: “That crop duster has some weird looking spray nozzles..”
Enemy 2: “Wait, we’re in the mountains/desert/city. There’s no crops for miles… Oh sh…”
growing up in western nebraska, ive seen bazillions of those little crop dusters. not only are they cheap, haul a lot of payload for their size, but they also change direction like a dragon fly. they have to, in order to accurately spray crops. awesome little aircraft.
Just wanna point out, the AT 802 is not a small aircraft. Piper Pawnees are small, Cessna Ag trucks are small, but the AT 802 is a huge bitch.
Another note is that all it takes to transport it is two shipping containers: one for the plane, and one for the kit. You basically roll up with two semis and now you have air superiority at any airfield anywhere.
That's kinda neat. The real question is whether or not it's lightweight and compact enough to be sling-loaded under a Chinook. Would make it much easier to establish footholds in contested areas.
@@jeffreywinters8060 a Chinook can haul out a F15 jet, it can pull out a crop duster, no sweat. Not even close to a challenge.
We have been running PC-9 s in our airforce for years now and NATO allies agree it's darn hard to get a lock on it with the way these can dance or hug terrain.
Primarily we got them because we needed means to defend our skies and are too tiny to afford jets and combat helicopters. So this was a cheap mixed bag compromise. But turned these props with modern gear are a good plane if used correctly. Hope to see yoir cropdusters fly with out PC-9 overhead someday in combined drills. Would be a darn good show to see a mock dogfights in prop planes again.
So I have recently been introduced to your videos and I have binged so many of your videos. My favorite video so far is the uss barb! I have never laughed so hard in my life!!!
Super Toucano has a place in my heart as well. Modern avionics on a top-tier prop plane.
Super T is a nasty nasty bird I would never wanna be on the receiving end of.
I was gonna compare the Sky Warden to the Super Tucano, however it seams they are in different categories. With that being said: a crop duster with guns and a f*ck ton of sensors is probably the best idea anybody has ever had in these past times.
The Tucano got beat out by the "Hick"! It beat that slick "Bronco II" outta South Africa/ Made in Florida pusher.
Hello! Love your channel! I just recently became familiar with your vids (currently burning through your backlog). I get that the "Quack bang and the duck grenade have the same origin, but wtf is that, anyway? Did you turn a friggin' rubber ducky spicy?
I'm a fan of dual propellers like the P-38 Lightning & OV-10 Bronco
These 802’s are also used as fire trucks. I believe these are called the ‘Fire Boss’ they are very commonly seen where there are wild fires being attacked by aircraft. There are also pontoon equipped versions of these planes that can scoop up water. A small fleet of these can deliver a lot of water in a short time.
Crop dusters are used to haul fuel to remote locations in Canada sometimes
Fire bosses are a water scooper version, SEATs (single engine air tanker) are the regular version that drop retardant
Reminds me of all the love for the A-1 Skyraider and how useful it is to have prop planes
with its 10 Hour fly time!
ok, I hadn't realized this was here before I requested it elsewhere. Thank you for doing this.
Part of why it won is SF can fix it with the tools you can find in an auto garage.
It sounds amazing! I haven't seen the video on the rockets but will check it out. Are any of them fixed with guns?
I actually love this concept. It's the same as the PT boats. Take a basic unit and kit it out. It's cheaper and way more usable in the field. Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, the PT boat, the Sky Warden, and the Littlebird are going to be way more effective.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone (air grunt) came up with the the concept years ago and it's only now getting made because it's cheaper and probably easier to maintain.
I can't agree. PT boats serve a specialized role in being able to out maneuver enemy munitions. They are more agile than anything else in the sea.
The warden has no specialized role. It sounds like they are even missing the point of cost efficient production. They have limited speed, altitude, payload, and durability. Every job they do is done better by a different vehicle. They would only see engagements in very specific theaters without air resistance. They would be highly effective en mass against fewer, more advanced planes, but as a support and surveillance vehicle it is a compromise.
When you said each one costs 40 million my jaw dropped, that's very expensive. But the much cheaper maintenance and logistics are probably worth it.
up front it's alot I wonder if it's to cover r and d
Just like the TIE Fighter! And we all know TIE Fighters have no shielding or hyperdrive. This is just the American TIE Fighter! Quantity over quality. Can't wait for the Air Force to dramatically drop in recruits because they'll be swatted out of the sky like flies easily.
the cost-per of any weapon system is the total cost of the weapon plus the entire maintenance and parts package that comes with it.
cheap comparatively upfront too when you consider F22's cost $143 million and the operating costs per hour are ASTRONOMICAL, same for the F35.
@@ZackarySchejbalCODBO2RGM2 swing and a miss on all fronts, what the movies fail to touch on is that even the standard model TIE/LN's "wings" were actually reflective surfaces designed to deflect incoming direct energy weapon's fire, and the craft could keep flying even if one got blown off entirely. the damn thing was simple, low cost, but also very, very durable in addition to mounting twin guns normally found on gunships or corvettes instead of speedy fightercraft.
they only look fragile and made of paper for two reasons: Movies and videogame "Balance." if it was lore-accurate you'd be in for a fight of your life just against one or two of the damn things.
The only things I want over my head are the A10, the Apache long bow and Puff.
if you like military science fiction, there's a series that starts with "A Desert Called Peace," where the main protagonists outfit their whole military with that kind of airplane for exactly the reasons you listed: cheap, high payload to weight, loiter time, rough field capable, oh and cheap. Good times.
A manned spy plane/predator drone, that could potentially retire as a farmer's aircraft anytime it wants.
This is true American craftsmanship right there lol.
A farmer's aircraft capable of spotting the bugs infesting your corn and precisely hitting them with the bug killer
I may only be a chair force vet - but you make THE best military videos on the Interwebs!
thank you!
I want them to add those full auto gun pods to it, just because, no tactical reason, I just want to see it
I'm so glad this is finally a thing now, I had a convo with a buddy 6 years ago about how a prop plane would have been ideal in Afghanistan for basically every single reason listed in the video... bit of a shame I won't get to see if my hypothesis was correct now that we've fucked off from there.
This thing has been in the works for years. It had my attention back in A&P school. And the flight turn radius on those things are insane. What the basic crop dusters can do alone is impressive. I can only imagine with guns and rockets. ❤️
Watching them work, it's like they stand them on its tail, and slide sideways into their next pass.
I've heard of someone going under a pivot, came in with milo hanging from the gear.
@@scotcoon1186 actually that is a real maneuver called a hammerhead and is done by pulling any vertical maneuver and intentionally stalling with the nose straight up. Right as the stability starts to falter you hit the rudder to whichever side you want to fall to and you will slip seamlessly into a nose down dive in that direction.
It's was even used in aerial combat to turn the tables in certain situations when either A. you have a substantially better engine and overall more weight and won't stall nearly as fast while they have a small engine and light weight and would stall quickly or B. You already have the energy advantage (you are higher than them) and they try to go vertical to shoot you and you can pull this move to defend and force their stall. Either way once they break away or stall, whichever comes first, you can hammerhead into a boom dive and assuming you have the energy advantage at the end then zoom climb back into safety. At that point you functionally won even if you missed your pass because you have gained control of the fight and can strike freely without them being able to effectively respond.
This likely won't be done as situation A applies to the opponents of these aircraft basically 100% of the time. Modern jets will always beat a prop in a vertical and also missiles completely changed the rulebook of engagement and evasiveness. Most likely these will always be paired with some form of ground based air defense system to give them a fighting chance if a jet or drone attacks them.
Excellent! Been wondering how long it was going to take for the AF to understand that not every aircraft needs to be able to dogfight.
Also, have you been watching the videos from the USS Texas drydock?
Freaking amazing.
This is why the Marines called their planes Weapon Platforms, there just wings that carry the ordnance .
You're never without that quick wit. 😂 Best videos on the net. 🎯 100%
One of the competitors in the A-X program was an aircraft called the PA-48 Enforcer built by Piper. It's design stemmed from the venerable P-51 Mustang. Unfortunately it missed it's window. Too late for Vietnam and too early for the GWOT.
This is great! You should do one on ethe Toyota War.
Compared to some planes in the Strike Fighter/Air support/COIN ops game, this thing is a rocket
I just wanna see a modernized P-51 mustang. Keep the base plane, upgrade the systems, keep the .50 cals, and add hard points for sidewinders.
That would be the PA48 Enforcer.
More modern version than the PA-48 would be the A-29B Super Tucano. We had a few but had to get rid of them due to blowing the budget on F-35s.
@@h_in_oh ah yes, making the best military aircraft in circulation is blowing the budget
@@thesupreme8062 Not dissing the F-35 as an awesome plane. It was a simple reality that cost overruns in the F-35 program squandered the USAF's A-29B program budget.
First thing you have to do is upgrade the engine and fuel capacity to account for all the extra weight and size of the modern battlefield, well, now it's gotta be bigger in volume. Since turbo prop tech has been maxed out, we strap a cost effective jet engine on there instead. Now to account for the change in flight performance, we extend the wings and taper them a bit because we know that it has better performance and it is no longer expensive to 3d model a swept wing design. Now in order to have missile capability, we need to put in a radar system and modern avionics. That increases the weight again and power budget requirements. Radar has to go in the nose in order to see, so we put the engine in the back. If we want this baby to loiter, we should also put some optics on it. Increase weight and power budget. In the modern battlefield, we need countermeasures and jamming pods. Increase weight and power budget. Well at this point as you can see... We have a modern jet fighter.
Dude I am hooked! 😂😂 ‘Telling your buddies in the afterlife you got unalived by a cropduster…! 🤣🤣 Pure gold! Keepem coming Quackbang please!!! ❤❤
glad you liked it thank you
@@the_fat_electrician I love all your videos man. I’m an ex Air Force fighter maintainer (not USAF, the Singaporean Air Force) and i can relate to your content. My fav is the gangster leaning battle ship that yeeted-deleted a mountain…🤣🤣.
Had to do a doubletake when I saw the A-10 with 165 on the nose. That one is a pain in the ass to work on and I dread the day that thing is due for Phase.
Good information everybody should know that!😊
I imagine it can't fly as high as the A10 Warthog but that might be why it's perfect. I mean doesn't flying lower mean you'd be less likely to be spotted on a radar intended to find aircraft higher up? Give it a quieter engine and the ability to travel clearly at night and suddenly it's the Wright Brother stealth build
Unless there's a hill or mountain between it and the radar, no. If you want a stealthy ground attack plane, look to the F-35. Otherwise, pray there aren't any MANPADS in the area because if there are and you're flying low and slow, you're screwed.
Lmao the skyrim Stealth Archer build
You should do the pby, it was a flying boat that would LAND MID COMBAT to pick up downed pilots. There's probably some really bad ass story's with it
My grandfather flew one in WW2. Not sure if it was around Italy or North Africa. He died in '93 when I was 10. Only story I remember was somehow damaging a wing dropping depth charges. I wish he had been around when I was a bit older and I could have understood more of his stories
If I had to fight in WW2, I'd want a rear area logistics job so I didn't have to worry about bullets or shells. But if I *had* to fight on the front lines, I'd want to be a PBY recon crew 😂
What I'm about to say may upset you or fascinate you as a military history nerd. Back in the 80s, the Air Force was in the market for another cheap alternative to the A-10 for ground attack aircraft.
Piper (I barely know her!) Aircraft Corporation stood up and proposed a Turboprop version of the most iconic aircraft of WWII: The P-51. They called this aircraft "The Enforcer", and while it did NOT get the chance to export freedom it still has a TON of character. Love it
The PA-48 Enforcer was Piper's entry into the same competition that the A-10 won, it wasn't proposed as a cheaper alternative after the fact. Long story short when the USAF was looking to acquire a new CAS aircraft, several companies made prototypes for the competition and the PA-48 was one of them. Piper had no intention of winning the competition, they just wanted a piece of that development contract money, so they picked a cheap airplane (at the time, the P-51 was dollar store clearance cheap), modified it a bit to be relative to the contract (couple hard points, turbine engine), and pocketed the rest. As expected, they didn't win, but ended up getting a lot of money in what amounts to participation award.
I'm hooked my man!!
Never forget that you need binoculars for the A-10 to acquire targets and determine if they’re friendly or foe. And the British have some accounts on how that didn’t work.
it’s a replacement for the stopgap Embrair Supertacanos bought for that very reason and used successfully until someone decided it’s not good to have a plane that’s reliant on foreign companies or used widely by potential threats
That was for the a10a. Now eith the a10c that's not a problem anymore. You know what is? The giant waste of money the the a10c is. The f16,f15 f35 are all better at Cas than the a10 is. Hell the f111 aadvark was better than the a10 and it got retired.
@@thesupreme8062 yeah but GAU-8 go brrrrrrrtttt🗿
@@notaboutit3565 ....hitting British vehicles in the procsss
@@shaider1982 you dont read before responding?
I've always loved the idea of a modern prop ground support aircraft, but a crop duster...that just makes it all the better
Didn't know where you were going with that one but pretty hilarious
Acoustic analogy excellent☆☆☆☆☆.
Air Tractor is a US Made plane in an Employee Owned Factory in a small Texas town. Crop Dusters are very Agile and these are these Premier Crop dusters in the world. Currently they produce all of the Ground up planes on site and produce about 150-200 per year.
I believe for the purpose they will be used they will be a great addition to the Fleet. They also have other uses beyond this as well.
Made in my home town in fact.
@@Cairen5699 Mine too.
This is impressive, but by no means a replacement for the A-10. It can't hold nearly as much, can't take the level of damage, has almost a third of the flight ceiling and is much slower. But, this is fine because it is meant to replace the U-28A Draco. I fully agree though, that being killed by this thing is a huge insult compared to the A-10 or even the Draco.
Love your content. Leaving comment to boost your algorithm- peace
A10: The gun with wings
Sky Wardem: The gun with a crop duster.
Nic you are the ONLY channel on UA-cam that I actually click the notification bell for and man, when I saw you posted a new video, I was here faster than the Texas yeeting some spicy Volvos on D-Day, I love your videos! Keep'em coming :D
I appreciate it!!
Some of that footage you’ve shown is of the Iomax ArchAngel. Using the A660 Turbo Thrush. And it’s because of their success in a few theatre’s that the US started looking at the 802u again. We’ve been using the 802u since 2011 (which was then an Iomax project) and the ArchAngel a few years after that. The 802u is a beast
My cousin works at Air tractor in Olney tx where these are built. These planes are built with Pilot survivability in mind. Literally built to crash and let the pilot walk away
If you ever wanted to know how a dog fight between Snoopy and the Red Baron went. Fly one of these . In fact, I think we should have a petition started to have one aircraft painted with Snoopy in aviator gear on his dog house on it as "nose art"
Love them both. Right tools for the Wright job. No that was not autocorrect. The irony being, for ground support for the regular grunts, the a10 is likely better, since it seems to still pack a bigger punch, and that gets grunts fire superiority. That makes them happy. That loiter time tho.... Just the thing to strike terror into the enemies hearts. Fly around every night for weeks leading up to a mission. Great vid.
The Air Force only ordered 75 Sky Wardens. They are not going to be standard issue with troops in normal ground operations. These are for Special Ops missions only.
You choose the A10 if you want to kill friendlies and civilians or if you want to lose a plane
@@johpfit760 yep
@@johpfit760 Exactly. That 30mm canon has a wider miss range than a missiles explosion.
The Brits in the Gulf War wanted them nowhere near them.
This is going to give the term "being crop dusted" a completely new meaning.
Another great video. Keep it up .
The crop duster would never be able to hold up to the same amount of punishment that the A-10 is designed to withstand. The titanium bathtub liner in the cockpit and redundant control systems in the A-10 are far more reliable then anything in the Duster. Survivablity is the main advantages for the A-10. The A-10 can also out gun the Duster in any fight.
F-15C pilot here. I like the Warden. It's not objectively better than the A-10 by default because 1 engine vs 2. That's not only twice the engines, it's twice the redundancy for generators and hydraulics as well, something that's good when your area of operations expertise is always within small arms fire range. I also don't think the Sky Warden can refuel using NATO baskets because of the spinny blender front end it has, but it **might** be able to boom refuel like us USAF chads but I doubt it because I think a KC-135 or KC-46 would buffet an Air tractor into the shadow realm. I only see the Sky warden being piloted by SOCOM guys and CIA spooks, nothing more, which means it competes poorly with things like the Predator drone. But hey, cheap is cheap even if it is niche.
If you’re a F-15C pilot you should know that the a-10 sucks ass.
@@kinderfett5259 Ahem, Mudhen rules them both.
@@kinderfett5259 💯 I bet he is fake af. FTG!
The Warden is specifically an armed overwatch plane for SOCOM, they're the ones who ordered it in the first place. I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that its the replacement for the A10. It doesnt seem to currently have support for any kind of HMD, most of the pylons can only carry 500Ibs munitions, max speed is only 213 knots, so you're absolutely right it'd be practically impossible to AAR. Ferry range is 1200nm with bags, ferry range on the a10 is 2200nm without any bags.
Warden can only carry have the payload of an A10, and thats before you add any of the large ISR pods.
And for the biggest downside, no ejection seat on the warden.
Six hour loiter time coupled with the ability to land in unimproved fields kinda negates the need for in air refueling. Add in bringing back the enlisted pilots program and having a wing of these for each battalion sized element for the cost of a few jets and Osprey crash a lots, would be a tremendous force multiplier.