Lethaface Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 A few days ago I run some support fire tests. (Thanks to the author of that firing range maps, forgot who was it ) I was curious about the GAU-8 performance against Tanks, since in the past it never really proved its value to me in CMSF, while this is one of my favourite weapons in the world (the bloody sound of the thing is ... well.... 'awesome' as a 'yank' would say, hehe ). Have some screenshots @home to back up my story by the way. In the beginning I set out multiple arcs for my 2 A-10s, in which a variety of targets was armoured targets available. Bot returned 'home' without taking down something, altough all strafing runs did hit. Then I decided to point target a BMP1. BOOM. Then I decided to point target a t-55. BOOOM. Point target T-72 Turms-T ... BOOOOM. Point target T90: BOOOOOM Just wanting to post to the forum about a possible ammo selection problem (AP/HE) when using area targets, I started the mission another time. This time the point target failed to take down the T-90 , even after a few strafing runs. I decided to shut my mouth. However, I'm still interested in results of other players, and if someone knows what the GAU-8 will do in RL against the tanks encountered in CSMF. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethaface Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Nobody else has experience using the A-10 as a tank killer? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconander Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Lethaface, While not knowing what an A-10 Warthog will do against Syrian weapons, I have been on joint operations where the A-10s were called in and bombed a neighboring ridge. They were suppose to bomb our ridge but for safety they bombed the firing range one ridge over. I remember them streaking overhead I believe in the early dawn and releasing a thunderous pounding on that objective. I believe they were dropping their cluster bombs which were an awesome fireworks display. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8.htm http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=70 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdstrike Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 No RL experience here, but in the game I'd say it pretty much performs as you'd expect it. I haven't noticed a difference between area fire and point fire, though I can't remember taking out T90s. The only difference I noticed with area fire is that the flyboys love to engage abandoned civilian vehicles instead of tanks (the GAU being as effective in these cases, by the way ) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethaface Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Having read some articles bout the GAU-8 and 'RHA' penetration, I think that the theory doesn't really apply here. What are the effects (on RHA penetration) of firing such a gun at 'high' speed and from a few hundred meters altitude? Also i guess multiple hits on ~ the same spot will have extra effect. Logic would let me believe that any tank hit by a salvo should be sort of disabled, since I reckon at least some communication devices/spotting will be badly damaged, if no full penetrations will occur. Taking out Hilux's proved no problem to me indeed, but heck why would I use my 30MM cannon on a Hilux given that the average sling stone will do just fine (i do remember some top gear video about how difficult it is to actually destroy a Hilux, too bad they didn't test the GAU-8). It sort of doesn't feel good to kill 'only' a car with a gun thats bigger then the car itself, it's a bloody waste! Whomever doesn't like this gun has a serious manhood problem 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I don't see how a T-90 could get hit by multiple strafing runs from an A-10 and survive. Unless there was some sort of problem with the ammo loadout and maybe the plane was given only HE somehow? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethaface Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 That was my thought initially, because the area target commands didn't work at all but the point targets did very well. However, on my next try the point targets also didn't destroy any tanks. Ill try it again now! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcrof Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I have a game running right now where my A10's strafed up a 3 or 4 T-72 TURMS-T tanks. They all took multiple hits and drove off. I don't know about subsystems but they where not destroyed! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flanker15 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The Gau-8 only has ~40mm RHA at 1km, not very good against tanks but the high quantity would mean attacking the top or rear would have a high chance of a shell finding a weakspot. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I know this thread is a few days old but I wanted to bring this to Steves attention. I have been playing around with the air support training mission and I call the A-10's for a light (cannon) strike on the T-54's and they make multiple passes (both area and point requests) and the shells just bounce off with no kill. Now I do know that the GAU-8 can kill any tank in the world let alone a T-54!!! Steve could you please take a look at this as it seems to be way off the mark. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Appears to be working from my end. With a point target, A-10 seems to be giving exclusive attention the the targetted vehicle, hosing it down with DU like it's at a heavy metal carwash. With an area target, effect seems to be geared more towards suppressing the selected zone rather than killing any vehicles within it. I'd assumed this was the way it was supposed to be? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Yes but even with Point target I am not killing the T-54's. Maybe it is a training mission thing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Yes but even with Point target I am not killing the T-54's. Maybe it is a training mission thing? Set up your own mission and test. And I'm playing on Elite, with a jet that is Veteran and a higher motivation setting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Well I had a little time to test it and, so far, I think the GAU-8 is a little nerfed. It should be very rare indeed for a point target to survive more then one hosing from the DU shells of the GAU-8. Like I said, I hope Steve chimes in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theFightingSeabee Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 The a10 should be able to cut through any tank like a hot knife through butter. A huge gun firing a laser beam of depleted uranium will go right through any tank and into the bedrock below. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Well I had a little time to test it and, so far, I think the GAU-8 is a little nerfed. It should be very rare indeed for a point target to survive more then one hosing from the DU shells of the GAU-8. Like I said, I hope Steve chimes in. Ran some more testing on my own. Setup was against 2 Hvy antitank A-10s (heavy) and 2 Lt AT A-10s (light) versus 10 T-90SAs. Four CAS request, light point from heavy, light area from heavy, light point from light and light area from light. None destroyed targets with their GAU-8s, which surprised me, but it was probably a golden BB the first time I did the test because I only ran it once and since it fit my preconceived notions... Anyhoo, I agree with you at this point. I'm almost certain the culprit is the shallow angle they fire from. Properly using the GAU-8 involves something like a 45 or 60 degree dive from 10,000-15,000, IIRC. With a steeper dive, more shots would be hitting the top armor, rather than the side or (God, I swear who ever was flying that Hog is FIRED) the front armor. Maybe someone else can check, but it looks closer to 20 degrees in-game and most of the runs were from the sides or front, none I saw from the rear. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 The a10 should be able to cut through any tank like a hot knife through butter. A huge gun firing a laser beam of depleted uranium will go right through any tank and into the bedrock below. Well, that depends. If I can find it, there was an A-10 pilot's cartoon made, depicting areas on a tank vulnerable to the GAU. EDIT: Warthog Coloring Book! EDIT2: It's made by pilot's for other, probably less intelligent, pilots. Language not for children. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Yeah, It seems nerfed. It seems a little tweaking would put it more in line with expectations. Having said that, I don't have any personal experience flying A-10's, let alone running an ops analysis of effectiveness, so my expectations may not be in line with reality. Although, I would expect a competent pilot to run-in on the target on the proper orientation/axis. That may be the core of the problem; or, penetration data may be off. Did you notice the run-in axis? Did you change any variables to see if you could change the run-in axis? What was the run-in axis in relation to the target vehicles? Thanks, Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 From all my books here at home on the A-10 and GAU-8 I have the impression that the run in angle doesnt matter AS MUCH with this gun. The D.U. shells on this monster should slice right through most of the time. I read that it only takes an average of 7 shells to kill any tank. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Perhaps the ANGLE doesn't matter (as measured from ground to air). An angle of 3-10 degrees may be all a low level A-10 can gain between pop-up and run-in. However, the FACING of the enemy tank should matter...significantly. A low-level run against the front of an MBT should only inflict secondary damage; targeting, optics, etc. There should be little to no chance of penetrating the frontal armor. If the ANGLE of the run-in is changed (meaning the facing of the tank the A-10 fires upon) then there should be a much better chance of damaging/destroying the target. Runs against the REAR should be an almost sure thing. Surprisingly, one would think an orbiting A-10 which spots a target would actually manuever to achieve that goal. As well, a spotter calling in an A-10 would possible relay that information. A while back I asked about being able to specify the Air Support axis by using the same system that Artillery uses to specify a Linear Target. Shrug. Regards, Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I still am pretty sure the GUA-8 can go through the front of a T-72 but I will do some research. However, an A-10 comming in for a "frontal" attack still has, as you say, elevation so many many hits would occur on the top of the tank so it is a kill either way. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzfeld Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I was just reading that "coloring book for A-10's" and a question occured to me. I have checked the damage of T-72's and 54's after "unsucessful" cannon passes and there is alot of damage but the tanks cannon seems to always work. Is there a chance that during the hosedown can we disable the tanks cannon? The coloring book says on hit will do it. Anyway...that book says no way on frontal kill on T-62 (pure frontal, no slant?) so maybe I am wrong about that part. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingknives Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 The GAU-8 fires 30mm x 173mm ammunition, so performance is about 100mm RHAe at 500m or less. That isn't going to go through front armour of any modern tank at any angle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stikkypixie Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Is there a chance that during the hosedown can we disable the tanks cannon? The coloring book says on hit will do it. The coloring book also says that you're not very likely to hit it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I don't see how a T-90 could get hit by multiple strafing runs from an A-10 and survive. Unless there was some sort of problem with the ammo loadout and maybe the plane was given only HE somehow? If the cannon on the A-10 is powerful enough to reliably destroy MBTs, why do they bother arming it with ATGMs, too? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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