affectionately called the a10 warthog for its aggressive look and often painted with teeth
on the nose cone the a-10 thunderbolt crew is the u.s air force's primary low altitude
close air support aircraft the a-10 is perhaps best known for its fearsome gau-8 avenger 30mm
gatling gun mounted on the nose the gau-8 is designed to fire
armor-piercing depleted uranium and high explosive incendiary rounds
the a-10 thunderbolt has excellent maneuverability at low air speeds and altitude and is a highly
accurate and survivable weapons delivery platform the aircraft can loiter near battle areas for
extended periods of time and operate in low ceiling and visibility conditions the wide combat
radius and short takeoff and landing capability permit operations in and out of locations near
front lines using nikvision goggles a-10 pilots can conduct their missions during darkness
the a-10 warthogs massive 30mm cannon
the gau-8 slash avenger is one of the most iconic weapons ever designed
and is as famous as the plane that carries it into battle but as undeniably badass as it is
a closer look at its history reveals that early on the guns seem to spend almost as much time
trying to kill the aircraft's pilot as the enemy producing potentially blinding smoke and fire
fumes that threatened to choke out its engines and violent vibrations the air force understood
that the fortunes of the ax and the gau-8 slash were intertwined and recognized the importance
of the integration effort given four prime contractors two each for the aircraft and the gun
thunderbolt crime two's story starts with america's experience in vietnam
the united states had a fleet of expensive multi-purpose jets like
the f-105 thunder chief and f4 phantom but over the jungles of that conflict
those fancier warplanes ceded much of the close air support mission to simple
propeller driven aircraft like the korean war era a1 skyraider and to army helicopters
by the 1970s the pentagon had learned its lesson the ax program which sought a new attack aircraft
asked for something that could complete that kind of mission but was much harder to shoot down
and could survive shots from anti-armor weaponry fairchild say 10 went up against the northrop 9a
which also employed a twin engine straight wing configuration but its wing root mounted
engines and single tail were considered more vulnerable in 1972 the air force picked the
warthog america got with the 810 was a single seat low wing straightwing aircraft with two
non-afterburning turbofan engines mounted high behind the wing and in front of an appendage with
twin vertical stabilizers the plane carries 10 000 pounds of internal fuel near the wing routes
the a-10s cockpit and portions of its flight control system
are protected by 1 200 pounds of titanium aircraft armor called the bathtub the bathtub can withstand
direct hits from armor-piercing projectiles up 23 mm the front windscreen and canopy are resistant
to small arms fire this protection combines with double redundant hydraulic flight systems
and a mechanical system that still works even if hydraulics are lost
in 1973 the air force picked general electric as the winner of the separate gun competition
with its huge seven barrel rotary cannon which weighed in at approximately 700 pounds with its
associated components and ammunition feed system the service briefly considered the single barrel
30 mm overlicking 304 rk cannon also known as the kca the sample 304 rk which received the
designation gau-9 slash a suffered on average one malfunction for every 900 rounds fired the avenger
could shoot nearly 10 times as many shots without a stoppage after settling on the general electric
gau-8 the firm began the real work of cramming it into the a-10 tests on the ground went just fine
when the last of more than 7810s was built in 1984 the air crews and maintainers who worked on this
lumbering plane thought it was so ugly they called it the warthog today after decades of wear and
tear and blood and toil that nickname carries with it a nickname of affection and respect
even if there are still warthog haters who can't wait for it to retire
how little things change forty years later some air force leaders still see the a-10
as too rudimentary for the battlefield of the future preferring in this case the supposedly
do-it-all f-35 in fact the a-10 is now expected to fly well into the 2040s though its role could
change from tank killer to insurgent menace as usual the warthog isn't popular until it's needed
you