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Interesting, but is this really an obstacle, or one of those relatively fixable obstacles that's exaggerated by people who really want shiny new planes?

It just seems strange to me -- computers have gotten faster, batteries have gotten smaller, etc. If all of your avionics are theoretically lighter and smaller, how is it an issue to pack more functionality into the same airframe? Hell, remove the pilot and armoured bath-tub and make it into a drone.

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Modern military aircraft generate and move an enormous amount of electrical power throughout the airframe to supply all of their avionics and weapons. Power systems take up a lot of space.

The A-10 is an old school design, and there was no use case for installing large power systems when it was originally built. Unlike some other ancient airframes which had the spare room to retrofit power systems, the A-10 had little room to spare in its original design for a modern power system.

Ok, interesting. That's not something I'd considered.

Phht - just run some extension cords on the outside. Problem solved.

Man, the DoD is just not thinking outside the box.

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