F
OLLOWING THE NEWS
last month that the A-10 is
(predictably) once again on the
US Air Force’s chopping block,
tempers are already running
high. Opinions are divided, and
it seems that no other aircraft currently in
the US inventory draws so much debate and
emotion. The USAF is already trying to retire a
handful of aircraft, and Congress is attempting
to halt that plan.
Throughout its service history, the ‘Warthog’
— as it is affectionately known — has been
repeatedly earmarked for replacement. Many
will recall the US Air Force’s extensive
development testing of modifi ed F-16s in a
‘lizard’ paint scheme that led to the 174th
Tactical Fighter Wing, New York Air National
Guard (ANG) getting deep into the close
air support (CAS) role with the centerline-
mounted GPU-5/A Pave Claw gun pod on its
so-called A-16s. Indeed, the CAS-optimized
A-16 nearly led to the USAF killing off the
A-10 way back in the late 1980s. The 174th
TFW headed to Operation ‘Desert Storm’
with its new gun pods and was expected to
unleash a severe blow on the Iraqi Army.
However, all did not go as planned. The F-16
fl ies much faster than an A-10 and it gave the
pilots far less time to acquire their targets for
a strafi ng run. Firing the gun shook the ‘Viper’
so vigorously that the jet reportedly became
hard to control and the pod mounting became
distorted through not being suffi ciently rigid.
Indeed, after only a few days, the F-16 pilots
ditched the gun and reverted to bombs, having
in the meantime sprayed their targets with
little accuracy.
Conversely, integration of the 30mm General
Electric GAU-8/A Avenger hydraulically
driven seven-barrel Gatling-type cannon on
the A-10 was designed from the start. A quick
check of any A-10 head-up display (HUD)
camera footage will quickly answer anyquestions about how rock-steady the ‘Hog’ is
in a strafi ng dive. Maybe there is an interesting
comparison here for the US Marine Corps,
which intends to fl y CAS in its F-35Bs with a
podded gun. Hopefully it will fare better than
the A-16!Finest hour
Most regard Operation ‘Desert Storm’ in 1991
as the A-10’s fi nest hour in combat. It was
actually a perfect storm for the ‘Warthog’,
and its lethality in the destruction of Iraq’s
armored forces served to save the jet from
the scrapheap way back then. In more recent
years, the A-10 has deployed on multiple
occasions to Afghanistan and, more recently,
the ‘Blacksnakes’ of the 163rd Fighter
Squadron, Indiana ANG, went back to Iraq in
November 2014 to combat Islamic State (IS)
militants. A dozen A-10Cs have deployed
from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona and taken
up a six-month residence at Spangdahlem
AB in Germany as part of Operation ‘Atlantic
Resolve’. This theater security package (TSP)
is intended to ‘strengthen interoperability and
enhance regional security.’
A-10 pilots are very aware of their close
relationship with ground troops and their
understanding of what ground commanders
require. They argue that there is a major
difference between an F-16 releasing
precision-guided weapons from more than
10,000ft compared to an A-10 fl ying just above
treetops that can more readily identify where
enemy and friendly forces are actually
located on the battlefi eld. The latter is
a major reason why the A-10 has
many supporters outside of the
Air Force in the ranks of the
US Army and Marines.
In the A-10 debate
between the US
Congress and
the AirThe US Air Force leadership
says it no longer needs the
A-10 Thunderbolt II. It wants
to end A-10 funding to help it
fully support the newer F-35
Lightning II. But have they got
it all wrong, and is it imperative
to save the A-10?report: Ken Neubeck
May 2015 http://www.combataircraft.net28-33 A-10 C.indd 28 19/03/2015 10:29