why the a-10 Thunderbolt might be America's best weapon of all time one of the most iconic
airplanes in the US Air Force's flying inventory is the a-10 Thunderbolt also affectionately known
as the Warthog designed to mow down rows of invading Soviet tanks during an anticipated
world war three the a-10 is served in most of America's post-cold-war conflicts from the
balconies to Afghanistan a new Pentagon contract to manufacture new wing sets promises to keep a
minimum of 280 aircraft flying in the foreseeable future even as questions persist whether the a-10
can survive over modern battlefields in 1967 the US Air Force initiated the a X program
designed to field a new generation of close air support CAS aircraft this was the first for the
Air Force which had traditionally used fighters and light bombers including the a-10s namesake
a p-47 Thunderbird in the CAS role although the air force's current stable of fighters including
the famous 100 series planes favored speed above all else the acts traded speed for survivability
maneuverability at low speeds loiter time and most importantly lethality after a fly
off against a Northrop a 9 the Fairchild 810 was picked and the first Jets delivered in 1974
the a-10 Thunderbolt is unlike any fighter before or since with survivability features designed to
keep it flying during an attack run and make it back to base the plane featured redundant
engineering features designed to keep the plane flying though parts of it were shot away the
Jew General Electric TF 34 non afterburning turbofans were moved behind the wing in order
to reduce the plane's infrared signature and protected from soviet air defenses such as the
sa-7 grail shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile system the a-10 pilot sits in a titanium bathtub
protecting him or her from anti-aircraft guns up to 23 millimeters the primary armament of the
zsu 23 for mobile air defense system the flight control systems and engines are also encased in
titanium plate the a-10 is also designed to be flexible and maneuverable both in the air and
on the ground the aircraft design stresses maneuverability at slow speeds allowing the
pilot to fly extremely low nape of the earth missions to mask its approach to the enemy and
to avoid enemy anti-aircraft fire the a-10 is also designed to operate from short unimproved
air strips in the event regular Air Base air strips are put out of action the thunderbolt
choose best attribute is its armament the aircraft has 11 external hardpoints for carrying electronic
countermeasures fuel tanks bombs and missiles the a-10 can carry up to 24 500-pound bombs for 2,000
pound bombs or 6 agm-65 maverick air-to-ground missiles this enables the a-10 to carry out a
number of front-line missions from close air support to suppression of enemy air defense
and strike key enemy targets such as fuel storage depots radar installations and feel dead quarters
the weapon that sets the a-10 apart from the rest of the aircraft world is the nose mounted
gau-8/a cannon the large seven barreled Gatling gun can fire armor-piercing rounds
at up to four thousand two hundred rounds per minute saturating a target area with
lethal cannon fire the gau-8/a is mounted to degrees nose-down and to the left so that the
firing barrel is always on the centerline the gau-8/a is an effective weapon for strafing
Soviet armored units advancing in a single file formation particularly with specially
developed tank killing depleted uranium ammunition even armor-piercing ammunition
without depleted uranium could penetrate zsu 23:4 mobile air defense systems BTR 70 wheeled
armored personnel carriers and bmp-2 infantry fighting vehicles that made up advancing Soviet
motor rifle regiments all of which could be opened by the gau-8/a like Kansas Ardennes in
wartime the a-10 was meant to operate alongside u.s. army of Gog attack helicopters in a so-called
joint air attack team j8e to kill advancing Soviet armor j8e doctrine called for Apaches
to suppress enemy air defenses identifying and killing threats to the a-10 a-10s would
then swoop down at a 30-degree angle hosing down Soviet forces with their Gatling guns in
hindsight this would not often have worked as Soviet forces would have advanced too quickly
for the inner surface teamwork to stop the enemy in time the a-10s first war was the 1991 Persian
Gulf War when warthogs were used to kill Iraqi armored units 132 a-10s flew seven thousand nine
hundred eighty three combat missions during the course of the war killing nine hundred
eighty seven tanks 926 artillery pieces 1355 armored vehicles ten aircraft on the ground
and even two flying helicopters shot down with the gau-8/a after the Gulf War the Air Force
planned to do away with the a-10 replacing it with the f-16 but the a-10 success over the
battlefield wanted constituency in Congress in 1999 a-10s flew over Kosovo in NATO's operation
Allied Force and after 9/11 8ns flew over both Iraq and Afghanistan a 10 s flying from Incirlik
airbase in Turkey have flown missions against Isis since at least 2014 and in January 2018
a-10s returned to the skies over Afghanistan after a hiatus of several years the Air Force
has tried to retire the a-10 for more than a quarter century the service has consistently
argued that the a-10 cannot survive on the modern battlefield and that a10 funds are better invested
in newer planes such as the f-16 Fighting Falcon and now the f-35 Joint Strike Fighter
under pressure from the a-10s fans in Congress and the military the US Air Force is keeping
the planes for now anyway seeking to manufacture new wings for more than a hundred a-10s this will
ensure that at least 280 aircraft will have these structural improvements necessary to keep a viable
force of 8/10 in the Air Force's inventory is the 810 viable over today's battlefields
against low-tech enemies with poor air defense weapons such as Isis or the Taliban the a-10 is
still a capable platform against other more modern threats such as Russian or Chinese
air defenses the a-10 cannot survive on its own one solution could be to pair the a-10
with air defense suppression drones once drones have neutralized the air defense threat a TENS
could conduct standoff attacks loitering at a safe distance while identifying enemy targets
and eliminating them with weapons such as newer versions of the maverick missiles or the small
diameter bomb strafing guns with the gau-8/a would be less common but the guns would still
see some use against undefended mass targets the a-10 is one of the most successful weapons in
the post-cold war era and is one legions of fans both in and outside the Armed Services
the temptation is to keep the aircraft flying as long as possible the trick is to keep the plane
around only as long as it's relevant to the modern battlefield if the a-10 can fight and
win for the next generation so be it if not it needs to be retired in a better plane or
solution takes its place there's no room for sentiment in the battlefields lethal skies
you