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Pierre Sprey, Pentagon analyst who battled brass to produce A-10 warplane, dies at 83
Last edited Sat Aug 21, 2021, 05:50 PM - Edit history (1)
By rejecting a long-held doctrine, Pierre Sprey quickly became
persona non grata among top-ranking Air Force brass, many of whom had been fighter or bomber pilots and resented getting advice from a civilian who was barely 30.
persona non grata among top-ranking Air Force brass, many of whom had been fighter or bomber pilots and resented getting advice from a civilian who was barely 30.
Link to tweet
U.S.
Pierre Sprey, Pentagon analyst who battled brass to produce A-10 warplane, dies at 83
BY MATT SCHUDEL • THE WASHINGTON POST • AUGUST 21, 2021
WASHINGTON — Pierre Sprey, a 1960s Pentagon “whiz kid” who was a formidable intellectual force in military analysis and weapons development and was sometimes an outspoken critic of Defense Department spending and war plans, died Aug. 5 at his home in suburban Glenn Dale, Md. He was 83. ... The cause appeared to be a sudden heart attack, said his son, John Sprey.
Sprey (pronounced “spray”) was considered a polymath whose interests encompassed history, engineering and French literature. In later years, he established a jazz record label, Mapleshade, and produced dozens of recordings known for their exquisite high-fidelity audio.
{snip}
“Even among McNamara’s Whiz Kids — the highly educated and extraordinarily bright young men brought into the [Pentagon] with the mandate to impose rational thought on both the military and the military budget - Pierre Sprey stood out,” author Robert Coram wrote in a 2002 biography of Sprey’s onetime Pentagon boss, John Boyd.
{snip}
“He was one of the most detested people by the United States Air Force,” Tom Christie, who spent decades as a Pentagon analyst, said in an interview, “because he was challenging a lot of sacred programs and strategies.” ... Instead, Sprey advocated a primary mission of “close air support,” with Air Force planes flying low to support Allied ground troops and to attack enemy convoys and armored units. He made the startling assertion that the most important vehicles in warfare were not fighter planes, aircraft carriers or tanks - but ordinary trucks. ... “I made myself pretty unpopular by pointing out that trucks were much more important than airplanes,” Sprey told the Baltimore Sun in 2002. “The tonnages moved by airplanes are tiny. Trucks are what count in the theater of war. Well, that wasn’t very glamorous for all those guys, so I got fired from that job.”
{snip}
Sprey and his group faced a strong backlash from Pentagon officials and from manufacturers who stood to profit from defense contracts. According to Coram’s book on Boyd, the Air Force assigned a colonel to get Sprey fired. When the colonel presented doctored statistics to challenge Sprey’s calculations, Sprey replied, “Your numbers are a lie.” ... The colonel demanded an apology, but Sprey responded by calling him a “slimy creature” who “oozed mendacity.” ... “Unlike many civilians who worked in the Pentagon,” Coram wrote, “Sprey was not intimidated by rank; in fact, he thought there was an inverse relationship between the number of stars on a man’s shoulders and his intelligence.”
{snip}
Sprey was particularly influential in the development of the A-10, a stubby plane with upright fins on the tail and two jet engines mounted over the body. Its central feature was a nose-mounted 30-mm Gatling gun that could fire 70 rounds a second. The plane could carry missiles and bombs under its wings.
Sprey insisted that the A-10 be durable and easy to repair. It was covered in a titanium shell that could withstand ground fire. Fuel tanks were insulated with nonflammable material to prevent explosions, and backup systems were in place for various hydraulic and mechanical components. Officially called the Thunderbolt, the A-10 looked so ungainly that pilots affectionately called it the Warthog.
{snip}
Pierre Sprey, Pentagon analyst who battled brass to produce A-10 warplane, dies at 83
BY MATT SCHUDEL • THE WASHINGTON POST • AUGUST 21, 2021
WASHINGTON — Pierre Sprey, a 1960s Pentagon “whiz kid” who was a formidable intellectual force in military analysis and weapons development and was sometimes an outspoken critic of Defense Department spending and war plans, died Aug. 5 at his home in suburban Glenn Dale, Md. He was 83. ... The cause appeared to be a sudden heart attack, said his son, John Sprey.
Sprey (pronounced “spray”) was considered a polymath whose interests encompassed history, engineering and French literature. In later years, he established a jazz record label, Mapleshade, and produced dozens of recordings known for their exquisite high-fidelity audio.
{snip}
“Even among McNamara’s Whiz Kids — the highly educated and extraordinarily bright young men brought into the [Pentagon] with the mandate to impose rational thought on both the military and the military budget - Pierre Sprey stood out,” author Robert Coram wrote in a 2002 biography of Sprey’s onetime Pentagon boss, John Boyd.
{snip}
“He was one of the most detested people by the United States Air Force,” Tom Christie, who spent decades as a Pentagon analyst, said in an interview, “because he was challenging a lot of sacred programs and strategies.” ... Instead, Sprey advocated a primary mission of “close air support,” with Air Force planes flying low to support Allied ground troops and to attack enemy convoys and armored units. He made the startling assertion that the most important vehicles in warfare were not fighter planes, aircraft carriers or tanks - but ordinary trucks. ... “I made myself pretty unpopular by pointing out that trucks were much more important than airplanes,” Sprey told the Baltimore Sun in 2002. “The tonnages moved by airplanes are tiny. Trucks are what count in the theater of war. Well, that wasn’t very glamorous for all those guys, so I got fired from that job.”
{snip}
Sprey and his group faced a strong backlash from Pentagon officials and from manufacturers who stood to profit from defense contracts. According to Coram’s book on Boyd, the Air Force assigned a colonel to get Sprey fired. When the colonel presented doctored statistics to challenge Sprey’s calculations, Sprey replied, “Your numbers are a lie.” ... The colonel demanded an apology, but Sprey responded by calling him a “slimy creature” who “oozed mendacity.” ... “Unlike many civilians who worked in the Pentagon,” Coram wrote, “Sprey was not intimidated by rank; in fact, he thought there was an inverse relationship between the number of stars on a man’s shoulders and his intelligence.”
{snip}
Sprey was particularly influential in the development of the A-10, a stubby plane with upright fins on the tail and two jet engines mounted over the body. Its central feature was a nose-mounted 30-mm Gatling gun that could fire 70 rounds a second. The plane could carry missiles and bombs under its wings.
Sprey insisted that the A-10 be durable and easy to repair. It was covered in a titanium shell that could withstand ground fire. Fuel tanks were insulated with nonflammable material to prevent explosions, and backup systems were in place for various hydraulic and mechanical components. Officially called the Thunderbolt, the A-10 looked so ungainly that pilots affectionately called it the Warthog.
{snip}
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Don't tell anyone 
but I got to sit in the cockpit of one back in the 70's when I was a kid.
