a10 thunderbolt 2 invincible subsonic attack aircraft
the a10 thunderbolt 2 is a single seat twin turbofan straight wing subsonic aircraft
developed by fairchild republic for the united states air force in service since 1976 it is
named for the republic p-47 thunderbolt a world war ii era fighter bomber effective at attacking
ground targets the a-10 was intended to improve on the performance and firepower of the douglas a1
skyraider its airframe was designed for durability with measures such as 1 200 pounds of titanium
armor to protect the cockpit and aircraft systems enabling it to absorb damage and continue flying
its ability to take off and land from relatively short runways permits operation from airstrips
close to the front lines and its simple design enables maintenance with minimal facilities
the a10a single seat variant was the only version produced though one pre-production airframe was
modified into the ya-10b twin-seat prototype to test an all-weather night capable version
in 2005 a program was started to upgrade the remaining a-10a aircraft to the a-10c
configuration with modern avionics for use with precision weaponry the u.s air force
had stated the lockheed martin f-35 lightning ii would replace the a-10 as it entered service
but this remains highly contentious with the us air force and in the political circles
the a10 thunderbolt 2 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 night vision goggles a-10 pilots can conduct their missions during darkness
thunderbolt has night vision imaging systems or nvis goggle-compatible single-c cockpits forward
of their wings and a large bubble canopy which provides pilots all-around vision
the pilots are protected by titanium armor that also protects parts of the flight control system
the redundant primary structural sections allow the aircraft to enjoy better survivability during
close air support than did previous aircraft the aircraft can survive direct hits from
armor piercing and high explosive projectiles up to 23 millimeters their self-sealing fuel
cells are protected by internal and external foam manual systems back up their redundant hydraulic
flight control systems this permits pilots to fly and land when hydraulic power is lost
the a-10 warthog has received many upgrades over the years in 1978 the aircraft received
the paved penny laser receiver pod which sends reflected laser radiation from a laser designator
pave penny has now been discontinued in favor of more capable advanced targeting pods
the a-10 began receiving an inertial navigation system in 1980
later the low altitude safety and targeting enhancement upgrade provided computerized
weapon aiming equipment an autopilot and a ground collision warning system in 1999 aircraft began to
receive global positioning system navigation systems and a new multi-function display
in 2005 the entire a-10 fleet began receiving the precision engagement upgrades that include
an improved fire control system electronic countermeasures upgraded cockpit displays
the ability to deliver smart bombs moving map display hands-on throttle and stick digital
stores management lightning and sniper advanced targeting pod integration situational awareness
data link or saddle variable message format or vmf gps guided weapons and upgraded dc power the
entire a10 fleet has been precision engagement modified and now carries the a10c designation
the thunderbolt 2 can be serviced and operated from austere bases with limited
facilities near battle areas many of the aircraft's parts are interchangeable left
and right including the engines main landing gear and vertical stabilizers
avionics equipment includes multi-band communications global positioning system
and inertial navigation systems infrared and electronic countermeasures against air-to-air
and air-to-surface threats and it has a heads-up display to display flight and weapons delivery
information the thunderbolt 2 can employ a wide variety of conventional munitions including
general purpose bombs cluster bombs units laser guided bombs joint direct attack munitions
or j dam when corrected munitions dispenser or wcmd agm-65 maverick and aim 9 sidewinder
missiles rockets illumination flares and the gau 8 slash a 30 millimeter cannon capable of firing 3
900 rounds per minute to defeat a wide variety of targets including tanks
the a-10 actually operates in the field as an even more precise weapon than even the most advanced
smart bombs the number one thing when it comes to strikes is making sure we do as little damage
as possible especially killing civilians we try very hard to keep that from happening mccarthy
said so when there is any reason to believe that civilians may be in the area the a-10 is the
best tool for the job in a murky situation where there's no way to know whether they're civilian
non-combatants or not we don't take the chance of using a bomb mccarthy said that's a type of
target we'll go after with the gun he added it's low collateral damage weapon pinpoint accurate
and we employ high explosive incendiary rounds so nothing walks away from that if they get hit
operations the a-10 crews of the times were from moody air force base in valdosta
georgia and they redeployed in late april now crews from the boise idaho air national guard
fly and maintain the a-10s we have lots of spare aircraft where priority one would spare parts so
we generally have all the capability to fix our aircraft on hand in fact mccarthy said referring
to an a-10 in the hangar behind him this is a jet that's just about ready to go into phase
inspection in the next hangar the kernel set of phase inspection is done on an a10
every five days or so but with moody in six months they did 2.5 years worth of phase inspections
these guys when you have nothing to do but focus on your job you're just cranking out the missions
deliberate versus dynamic targeting
coalition partners are an incralep too the colonel said but i would say we have just as much of an
international presence it generally doesn't involve an integrated effort with a coalition
it's just usually a two ship of a-10s that show up overhead and we conduct our mission to coordinate
a deliberate strike the combined air operations center works with a regional combined joint task
force target engagement authority to vet a target determining which weapons are needed to strike the
target which assets have the right capabilities you never know when the dynamic need is going to
rise that's why you need aircraft airborne pretty much all the time in the strategic locations
avoiding collateral damage
earlier in the week in baghdad marine corps brigadier general bill mullen
the target engagement authority for central iraq discussed the strike vetting process
for mccarthy the decision to employ the a-10 itself speaks to the collateral damage
and civilian casualty issues gone are the days when they had to download bombs upload torpedoes
and where they could only carry one thing on the a-10 we carry just about everything that
we're slated to do on a mission on one aircraft he said a fully loaded a-10 can carry two thousand
pound and five hundred pound joint direct attack munitions or j dams bombs laser-guided j dams the
agm-65 maverick air-to-ground tactical missile and mccarthy said don't ever forget don't ever forget
the 30 millimeter gau-8 slash a avenger gun with 1 150 rounds what that aircraft was built around
target weapon selection the colonel said the gun a hydraulically driven 7-barrel gatling
type auto cannon is the only thing on the a-10 that's not guided by global positioning system
signal or laser beam but you don't need it to because it's so deadly accurate he added
pilots tend to use the gun when collateral damage is a concern he said pilots might
use a two thousand pound bomb if they wanted to go after a large building for example but
to avoid collateral damage they might instead use a smaller bomb or delay the fusing allowing
the bomb to penetrate the target a little before exploding to contain the blast the colonel said
if the mission involves a checkpoint being run by the islamic state of iraq and the levant
and the a-10s want to go after the guys running the checkpoint but we don't want to target the
vehicles they're inspecting because there's no way to know whether they're civilian non-combatants
or not we don't take the that's a type of target we'll go after with a gun he added
it's a low collateral damage weapon pinpoint accurate and we employ high explosive incendiary
rounds so nothing's walking away from that if they get hit using their expertise
the mission at incirlik mccarthy added is like an olympics for a-10 pilots this is where we get
to use our craft he said mccarthy added all those months and years of hard training are paying off
and that's why you're not seeing anyone get shot down it's why we're not getting surfaced
air fire hits and why our maintainers are able to generate 100 of their air testing order missions
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