The A-10 Warthog’s Firepower Made Up for Its Lack of Speed: The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, better known as the “A-10 Warthog,” is not known for its speed.
But it is surprisingly maneuverable, especially when diving at ground targets.
Designed for the Cold War to “plink” Soviet tanks that were going to stream through the Fulda Gap in Germany at any time to overwhelm US and NATO forces, the A-10 needed to be dominant. During its esteemed combat record over the decades, it was.
Operation Desert Storm Introduced the Warthog to the Brightest Stage
The success unfolded later during Operation Desert Storm, when the world was introduced to the A-10’s prowess. Precision-guided munitions offered cameras that allowed viewers to see what extremely accurate bombs could do to the enemy.
This was made for must-see television. In fact, CNN once had A-10 pilots share their experience in a news conference. The mustachioed pilots were surprised at the media attention. They were just doing their jobs, they explained, but the A-10 took out Iraqi tanks and armored personnel carriers at such an awe-inspiring rate that these aviators were considered heroes.
A-10 Warthog: Well, This Thing Wasn’t the Fastest Jet in the Air Force
Now, let’s get to the speed of the Warthog. It isn’t supersonic, and the highest velocity the engines can push out is a paltry 420 miles per hour, plus the thrust isn’t great. It wasn’t ever going to set any speed records or win any dog-fighting encounters, but that wasn’t its primary objective. This is a flying tank after all, and it sometimes clunked around the sky like a slow-motion brick.
Time to Bring the Noise
But let’s not get too critical. The A-10 was designed for times when fighter jocks had established air superiority by suppressing enemy air defenses. This worked great in Afghanistan when the militants had no means to shoot surface-to-air missiles.
Close air support was the name of the game, and the A-10 saved countless soldiers and marines who were pounding the ground before engaging in dangerously close battles with the enemy, trapped by ambushes, or fighting for their lives in force-on-force combat with the Taliban.
Winning the Armored Fight
The Warthog comes equipped with the famous GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Gatling gun that can fire 3,900 rounds per minute. Hearing the ripping sound of this weapon alerted friendly forces to get their heads down and prepare for a large delivery of death and destruction.
This gun was highly lethal to enemy tanks and armored personnel carriers in Iraq, plus destroyed a multitude of caves and buildings in Afghanistan.
Don’t forget the bombs. The A-10 can illuminate the battlefield with Mk-82 and Mk-84 models, along with incendiary cluster bombs and Hydra rockets. Additionally, there are the Maverick air-to-surface missiles, which are highly effective.
That’s not all. The A-10 comes with “BLU-1 and BLU-27/B /B Rockeye II cluster bombs, cluster bomb unit CBU-52/71, combined effects munitions, and mine dispensing munitions. It can also carry laser-guided/electro-optically guided bombs, infrared countermeasure flares, electronic countermeasure chaff, illumination flares, and jammer pods,” according to AirForce-Technology.com.
The A-10 is survivable due to its armored cockpit and the ability to resist enemy fire that focuses on the nose.
Excellent Altitude Gives It Much Versatility
A surprising aspect of the A-10 Warthog is its ability to fly at high altitudes. The maximum altitude is 45,000 feet, so it can climb high in an unsuspecting manner until it reaches the target zone, when it dives down to the ground.
The enemy is just not ready for this type of performance and quickly pays the price. Its range is 800 miles.
Aviation magazine HushKit interviewed A-10 pilot Kim Campbell in 2021. Campbell was asked what she loved about flying the Warthog.
“The best thing about flying the A-10 is absolutely the 30mm Gatling gun. The gun is exact, which is the reason it also happens to be our go-to weapon of choice in a troops-in-contact situation where precision is required to ensure the safety of our ground troops. When you pull the trigger, you can feel the jet rumble. You can smell and see the gun gas come over the canopy. Then most impressively, you can see sparkles as the bullets impact the target.”
Thus, the A-10 Warthog didn’t need a tremendous amount of speed. It was meant for warfare after initial enemy air defenses had been destroyed. The early anti-Soviet battle plans provided extensive training to prepare for confronting Saddam Hussein’s armored forces in both Persian Gulf Wars.
In Afghanistan, that 30mm Gatling gun saved many American and coalition lives. The warbird is slow, but it has a high ceiling and good time over target while loitering.
Most importantly, it is a beast on the weapons front. The airplane has much to be proud of, thanks to its close air support over the years.
Pilots will forever remember the armored vehicles they destroyed and the large numbers of personnel they saved on the ground.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for US Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former US Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
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