A-7 in the 1990s?

IOTL, the A-7 Corsair II was retired from the Navy and the Air National Guard by the mid-1990s, due probably to the "peace dividend" and the simple fact that the aircraft was a relatively old design (based on the F-8 from the mid-'50s). However, there were some proposals (mainly, unsurprisingly enough, from Ling-Temco-Vought, the manufacture) to upgrade them to serve in a CAS/BAI role with more modern avionics and innards (the precise proposals being somewhat unclear). I suppose this wasn't really particularly likely to happen, but what would it take to have new or rebuilt A-7s fly into the 21st century? Additionally, what would it take for the ANG's A-7s (which were designated as CAS aircraft) fight in the first Gulf war (where, despite being part of pre-war deployment plans, they didn't go)?
 
A-10s randomly falling out of the sky. Or Harriers. Or both.

Navy/Marines aren't going to give up the F/A-18s, as they can do both ground attack and air superiority. Ditto for the USAF and F-16s. The A-7 was a reliable old bird, but its niche was filled by several other aircraft and there simply wasn't a need for it...
 
A-10s randomly falling out of the sky. Or Harriers. Or both.

Navy/Marines aren't going to give up the F/A-18s, as they can do both ground attack and air superiority. Ditto for the USAF and F-16s. The A-7 was a reliable old bird, but its niche was filled by several other aircraft and there simply wasn't a need for it...

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured. Too many other things that fill its niche--like a species, that means extinction. What about the other question? ISTR that the ANG had some A-7s specialized in night attack they didn't deploy to the Gulf that were earmarked for CENTOCM deployment. Is there any chance that could happen?
 
Spread the love a bit and ahve the A7 in service with a few more countries and it may get a job to do in the 90s. Perhaps Greece could update theirs and bomb the Balkans in the mid 90s.
 
A-7 survival requires F-18 death

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured. Too many other things that fill its niche--like a species, that means extinction. What about the other question? ISTR that the ANG had some A-7s specialized in night attack they didn't deploy to the Gulf that were earmarked for CENTOCM deployment. Is there any chance that could happen?

For the A-7 to continue in service the F-18 has to never have entered service, since the new fighter took up the 'Light Attack' role leaving Heavy Attack to the A-6.

The F-18, as I understand it, was not a plane the US Navy originally wanted. They wanted an attack version of the then new F-14. The A-14 would replace the A-6 with an aircraft far more capable of self-defence than that late Korean War subsonic design, as well as saving valuable money and carrier storage space by using mostly common spares, maintenance equipment etc. Longer production runs would lower unit costs too.


The F-18 engines, however, would be built in the home state of the Head of the Senate Armed Services Committee. This would bring jobs and money to the state and a greater chance of re-election to himself. A deal was done with other politicians and a new aircraft came into being which left no place for the A-7.

So how do you convince Congress to not do what the head of the appropriate committee said?

Maybe have him lose the previous election to someone with less ability to get his fellow congress-critters to go along with him.
 
^ pretty much right about the F/A-18 taking the job of the A-7, as well as the older F-4. The best way to keep the A-7 flying would be to have the F/A-18 be a dedicated fighter and fleet air defense weapon (taking much of the job of the F-14A Tomcat) while the Tomcat takes over the heavy strike role (allowing the retirement of the A-6 Intruder) and leaving lighter strike duties to A-7s.

IMO, an option would be a blanket upgrade of existing USN platforms - a better option than the A-12 project, which pissed away billions and never even flew. Grumman rebuilds F-14As into F-14Es (based on their Super Tomcat 21 proposals) and builds the A-6F Intruder (with the new radar and F404 engines) and the A-7 Strikefighter proposal, which would use the same engines as the F-14E. You reduce maintenance costs (you only have two engines for all four planes here - GE F404 and P&W F100), dramatically improve the capabilities of your aircraft fleet (The F-14E would be virtually identical in range and capabilities to the F-15E, the F-18 would be a wicked fighter, and the attack aircraft would both substantially improve their range and payload capacities, as well as allowing both to carry AMRAAMs for self-defense), and there is little risk to this - if it flunks, you still have the original designs. This could have been a reality if Northrop Grumman and LTV had had better lobbyists, perhaps.....
 
So how do you convince Congress to not do what the head of the appropriate committee said?

Maybe have him lose the previous election to someone with less ability to get his fellow congress-critters to go along with him.

Well, that's easy. Have a plan for A-7 engines to be produced in his state.

Of course a defense contractor completely moving a production line to influence politicians is ASB... oh wait, they do it all the time, including LAST FREAKING YEAR...
 
Top