USAF Has Finally Build a Super A-10 Warthog Armed More Deadliest Weapon
The Air Force is beginning to work on how fast, lethal,
durable and capable a new “A-10”-like aircraft would need to be in order to provide U.S.
military ground troops with effective close-air support for decades to come.
Senior service officials are now exploring “draft requirements” concepts – and evaluating the kind
of avionics, engineering, weapons, armor and technical redundancy the aircraft would need,
Air Force officials told Scout Warrior.
Many of the core technical attributes and combat advantages of the A-10
will be preserved and expanded upon with the new effort, officials said.
The performance of the A-10 Warthog in the ongoing bombing campaign against IS1S,
coupled with the Air Forces’ subsequent decision to delay the aircraft’s planned retirement – has
led the service to begin the process of developing a new, longer-term A-10 type platform.
Following an announcement earlier this year from Pentagon leaders that the A 10 will not begin
retiring but rather will serve until at least 2022, Air Force and DoD officials are now hoping
to keep a close-air-support aircraft for many years beyond the previously projected timeframe.
Given the emerging global threat environment, it would make sense
that the Air Force would seek to preserve an aircraft such as the A-10. While the aircraft
has been extremely successful attacking IS1S targets such as fuel convoys and other assets,
the A-10 is also the kind of plane that can carry and deliver a wide-ranging
arsenal of bombs to include larger laser-guided and precision weapons.
This kind of firepower, coupled with its 30mm cannon, titantium armor plates and built-in
redundancy for close-air-support, makes the A-10 a valuable platform for potential larger-scale
mechanized, force-on-force type warfare as well. The A-10 has a unique and valuable niche
role to perform in the widest possible range of combat scenarios to include counterinsurgency,
supporting troops on the ground in close proximity
and bringing firepower, protection and infantry support to a large-scale war.
Air Force officials have told Scout Warrior that the current approach involves a three-pronged
effort; the Air Force may consider simply upgrading the existing fleet of A-10s
in a substantial way in order to extend its service life, acquire an off-the-shelf existing
aircraft or develop a new close air support platform through a developmental effort.
“We are developing that draft requirements document. We are staffing it around the Air
Force now. When it's ready, then we will compare that to what we have available,
compare it to keeping the A-10, compare it to what it would take to replace it with another airplane,
and we will work through that process,” Lt. Gen. James Holmes,
Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Requirements, told reporters several months ago.
Holmes went on to explain that the service was, broadly speaking, exploring ways to achieve,
preserve and sustain “air superiority” in potential long-term,
high-end combat engagements. He added that considerations about a close-air-support
replacement aircraft figured prominently in the strategic calculus surrounding these issues.
Cost and affordability will also be a very large part of the equation when
it comes to making determinations about an A-10 replacement, Holmes explained.
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