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General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on July 30, 2021, 11:19:58 am

Title: Michigan Air National Guard landing military jets on M-32 near Alpena
Post by: rangerrebew on July 30, 2021, 11:19:58 am

Michigan Air National Guard landing military jets on M-32 near Alpena
Military commanders say this would be the first time A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft have landed on a U.S. roadway

By ABC12 News Staff
Published: Jul. 29, 2021 at 11:26 AM UTC|Updated: 19 hours ago

ALPENA COUNTY, Mich. (WJRT) - For the first time ever, the Michigan Air National Guard is going to try landing military aircraft on a public roadway rather than a designated runway.

A stretch of M-32 near Alpena will be closed for five hours on Aug. 5 for the training exercise, which includes four A-10s and two C-146 aircraft. The aircraft are based at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona and Duke Field in Florida.

A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft from the Michigan National Guard landed on highways in Estonia during a multinational training exercise in 2018, but they never have tried a roadway landing in America.

https://www.abc12.com/2021/07/29/michigan-air-national-guard-landing-military-jets-m-32-near-alpena/

Title: Re: Michigan Air National Guard landing military jets on M-32 near Alpena
Post by: PeteS in CA on July 30, 2021, 01:50:24 pm

Landing A-10s on roadways has been done before, evidently not in the US. A-10s are designed to handle rougher surfaces and to land gear-up (the wheels in the wings don't fully retract, by design). The A-10's original role envisioned using roadways in Europe in addition to actual airbases.