A-10 Thunderbolt Mk. 2 VS F-35 Lightning Mk. 2

Basically the A-10 was created to fight World War 3 and live to tell about.Or to be more precise; the A-10 was designed for European engagement against Soviet tanks when everyone was still using 80s tech while pilots were still jamming to Bon Jovi, Madonna, and Michael Jackson on their head-sets. It is the best C.A.S aircraft ever invented, it's saved countless American and allied troops lives.So what. The F-15 Eagle has an undefeated 104-0 air-to-air record; yet even 5 of them can't compete with a single 5th generation aircraft like the F-22 Raptor when stacked 5 vs 1 in Red Flag exercises. The past service history of an airframe says nothing about its current combat capabilities. The F-35 is fast and it will have trouble spotting enemies on the ground, possibly resulting in friendly casualties. The F-35 is equipped with a state of the art Distributed Aperture System (aks DAS) which features multiple integrated IRST sensors on different parts of the plane that provides a near perfect 360 degree sphere of Infrared visibility in all directions / day or night. Combine this with the F-35's exclusive Helmet Mounted Display (HMDS) and it's Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) for multiplex air-to-surface tracking, and the F-35 pilot can literally see the ground through the floor of the plane or the IR off a cow fart over a 100 miles away. The F-35's 5th generation sensor suite featuring advance laser rangefinding and IRST cueing should thus have no trouble at all at spotting ground targets. In contrast the A-10 needs to have integrated 3rd party targeting pod attached under one of its wings to even come close to this kind of visual acuity. Also the A-10 is thick-skinned, the cockpit has a thick titanium bathtub, to protect the pilot.Do not confuse survivability and structural toughness of an airframe for vulnerability. The A-10 has absolutely NOTHING -and I mean nothing- going for it in the event of a dogfight with another plane or a surface to air missile launched from some of the newer sophisticated SAMs (SA-13 & SA-17) or next-generation shoulder-fired MANPADS. Here, what's slower, low-flying, and less advanced A-10 to do? It can't climb, can't hide, can't run away, can't fire back, it can't do the loopy-loop maneuvers you've seen at Top Gun or in Air Shows needed to dodge a missile, and can't possibly see what's coming at them without without first modifying its lack of sophisticated air tracking and radar jamming sensors.In contrast, the F-35 was built from nail to nose for electronic warfare; missile evasion; and aerial dogfighting. The F-35 will carry the next-generation Aim-9x Sidewinder and the Aim-120 AMRAAM air missiles; the former when combined with HMDS cueing is capable of firing on aircraft trailing BEHIND the plane. Meanwhile, its electronic warfare suite and stealth coating gives it the technological edge it needs to defeat detection and jam enemy radar/missile tracking. The A-10's low level capability may give it a decisive edge for battlefield interdiction when compared with the F-35, Again, do NOT mistake survivability for vulnerability. In the 1991 Gulf War, FOUR A-10s were shot down to Iraqi SAMs, and dozens more came limping back to base due to enemy AAA.[1]. The vulnerability of the A-10 was so bad against high-threat SAM environments that USAF General Chuck Horner formally ground the plane from attacking Elite Republican Guard divisions {2}. And in 2003, another A-10 was lost to small-arms fire (3)Thus the point of the F-35 replacing the A-10 is to have a plane that avoids being hit in the first place. especially if laser countermeasure systems were to be installed throughout the A-10 fleetWTF, lasers??? As in point-defense -like in star trek- or as in range finders and retroreflective cueing? The former doesn't exist yet and the latter schematic is used primarily for precision ground targeting. Hardly a countermeasure against air missiles or AAA fire. The F-35 cost about 150 million per plane while the A-10 cost about 9 million per plane, you could buy about 16 warthogs for every lightning!The F-35 is meant to replace the aging A-10, F-16, F-18, and harrier jumpjet across four branches of the military as well as provide NATO allies an exportable 5th generation fighter jet that will supplement our own air-forces. The F-35 will be a much more intricate part of the DoD and national security strategy than the Fairchild A-10 will in the years to come. Sources:1)http://en.wikipedia.org.... 2) (http://www.dailykos.com...#)3)http://en.wikipedia.org...