The Explosive Rise in A-10 Warthog Strikes, Visualized

War is Boring ^ | February 7, 2017 | by ROBERT BECKHUSEN

[Brad from Tennessee]

The A-10 Warthog, a muscular and armored ground attack plane, is an odd vehicle because it was originally designed to attack Soviet tanks in Europe in the event of a third world war.

Thankfully, that conflict never occurred. Instead, the Warthog flew in the Persian Gulf War, the Balkans and has spent years taking on lightly-armed insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq — where it performs excellently at the job.

The RAND Corporation, a California-based think tank closely tied to the U.S. Air Force, recently compiled statistics on A-10s in Afghanistan, with the goal of studying how they performed and how the Air Force could replace them in the future.

It should come as no surprise that as the war continued, the A-10 took on a larger share of missions — comprising “one-half of all the CAS [close air support] missions … despite representing a small fraction of the total aircraft in theater,” according to RAND.

Warthogs also began striking targets across a wider span of the country as the Taliban’s reach expanded.

The Air Force continued to rely on A-10s primarily because of the aircraft’s ability to fly low and slow, giving the pilot enough time to line up and strafe with the plane’s 30-millimeter rotary cannon. This weapon is especially useful for hitting moving targets. . .

[trebb]

...the aircraft’s ability to fly low and slow, giving the pilot enough time to line up and strafe with the plane’s 30-millimeter rotary cannon...

Was stationed at Myrtle Beach when they replaced their A-7s with the A-10s. Not only can they go in low and slow, but they can turn around so quick that by the time those who ducked get around to raising their heads again, it's coming back and firing from the opposite direction.

Amazing to watch them go through their maneuvers - almost surreal.

[Bull Snipe]

Hate em because you cannot become an Ace flying Close Air Support.

[Svartalfiar]

I bet most of the Army will be utterly blindsided to learn that the A-10 is so effective and critical.

Actually, if you ask people in the real Army (not the paper-pushers), they'd tell you the A-10 was their favorite plane. 98% of the time. The AC gunships are cool, and watching some jets drop 500 or 1000 lb bombs to blow stuff up is cool, but the A10 is your best, most dependable friend.

[outofsalt]

Pfl