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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