Force, serving A-10 personnel have been
clearly warned off freely discussing their
mission and the importance of the aircraft.
However, it is easy to fi nd former A-10 pilots
who participated in previous wars and can
describe the missions they fl ew, thereby
allowing one to draw conclusions on modern
operations.
One pilot well versed in the A-10’s role
during ‘Desert Storm’ is Capt Michael Baltzer,
who fl ew 33 Forward Air Controller —
Airborne (FAC-A) missions during the 43-day
campaign and was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross (DFC). He described his mission
on February 27, 1991, for which he received
the award. Baltzer was sent to locate an Iraqi
artillery position of 122mm guns that were
fi ring on an American ground position. The
weather was bad, with heavy rain and icing
at high altitudes. When he dropped down
for a closer look he commented that it was
‘absolute bedlam’ and that ‘all sorts of shells
fi red from the ground were passing by [the]
canopy — they were fi ring at me!’ His A-10’s
titanium ‘bathtub’ helped protect him from
that ground fi re.
Capt Kim Campbell, who received the
moniker ‘Killer Chick’, recounts similar faith
in her robust mount. On April 7, 2003, while
fl ying with the 75th Fighter Squadron, her
aircraft was hit by ground fi re near Baghdad as
she supported US ground troops. It sustained
signifi cant damage to the tail section and
hydraulic system, but was still able to limp
back to base.
Most people’s impression of CAS in modern
times understandably relates to operations
in the uncontested skies over Afghanistan.
This has not involved the mass of tanks for
which the A-10 was designed to counter, but
rather smaller tactical targets such as pick-up
trucks or pockets of insurgents. According to
some service personnel that have served inThe US Army has no interest in taking
over the Air Force’s eet of A-10s — so says
Army Secretary John McHugh. The Army
has enough of its own problems trying to
maintain existing assets and has already culled
the OH-58 Kiowa inventory. ‘It’s an Air Force
mission’, he added.
Few see the Army taking on the A-10 and
its huge infrastructure as a viable option.
Indeed, there is an agreement in place that
physically precludes this from happening. This
was drafted almost 70 years ago in April 1948
and is known as the Key West Agreement.
It came about a few years after WW2 when
the three main military services disagreed
about tasks and responsibilities. The then
Secretary of Defense, James Forrestal, called
a conference that ultimately spelled out the
primary and secondary missions of each
service.
It was therefore decided that the US Air
Force would provide support for the US Army
to conduct certain transport operations as well
as for some reconnaissance operations.
So, despite the A-10 seeming a logical t for
the Army or even the Marine Corps, the A-10’s
future rests with either the US Air Force or in
the boneyard.A 10 FOR THE ARMY? NO WAY this region, it became apparent that the A-10
could provide a better level of cover than
attack helicopters, especially in the thinner
air of the mountainous regions, and that
it offered superior loiter times over target.
Ground troops also regard the ‘Hog’ as a
serious morale-booster when it fl ies overhead
— providing a signifi cant fear factor for the
enemy — and it has proved itself valuable on
many occasions.Too important to lose?
The diffi cult combat operations in Afghanistan
offered many chances for CAS assets to step
in and lend a helping hand to those on the
ground. There are countless stories of fast
jets, not just A-10s, literally saving the lives of
those under attack from the enemy. There are
also some very signifi cant A-10 combat stories.
In one instance, on October 28, 2008, A-10
pilots Capt Jeremiah ‘Bull’ Parvin and Lt
Aaron Cavazos from the 74th Expeditionary
Fighter Squadron (EFS), were fl ying out of
Bagram AB to a location over 300 miles away
to help special operations Marines in Badhis
Province. The Marine special ops team was
on routine patrol two miles from a forward
operations base when it was attacked by
over 50 insurgents. Six Marines ended up
separated from the group, in close-quarters
combat, and sheltering in a house that wasunder attack. The fl ight of A-10s battled
through poor weather en route to the area,
with Parvin then realizing that neither he
nor his wingman had a map of where they
were going. He and Cavazos descended
below thick cloud cover and maneuvered
through the mountainous terrain to fi nd
the unit in need. Parvin recounted: ‘You
hear gunshots in the background; you hear
screams of urgency in their voices. You
could just tell they need help and they need
it now’. With the help of the Joint Terminal
Attack Controller on the ground he was able
to distinguish the friendly and enemy forces
and, while taking heavy surface-to-air fi re,
they attacked multiple enemy positions just
40m from the Marines.
The A-10s ended up fl ying over four
hours of CAS and conducted 20 gun passes
that ultimately got the Marine team out of
trouble. Importantly, it was noted during
the mission debrief that F/A-18 Hornets
also in the area at the time were unable to
engage the enemy as they were impeded by
the heavy low cloud layer, which the slow
A-10s were able to work beneath. Both pilots
received the DFC with Valor.
Another notable event came in Afghanistan
on June 22, 2013. On that day, 60 US Army
personnel were in a convoy performing a
routine clearance patrol when they wereRetirement of the entire eet of 283 A-10Cs
from FY2016 is now phased over four years
in parallel with F-35A procurement. The 23rd
Wing at Moody AFB, Georgia, A-10s from
which are seen here, would lose its aircraft
with no follow-on mission.
USAF/A1C Benjamin Wiseman30 May 2015 http://www.combataircraft.net28-33 A-10 C.indd 30 19/03/2015 10:30