The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat attack aircraft. A-10 is a twin-Turbofan engine with a wing straight. In the jargon of the pilots, it is called Warthog.
The idea of developing an aircraft explicitly dedicated to close air support came in 1966 to the then Chief of Staff USAF John P. McConnell, who intended to bring together the qualities shown in the Vietnam War (in progress) A-1 Skyraider with those of the A-7 Corsair II.
The plane that proves he should therefore have had longer range, maneuverability at low altitude, a variety of weapons, and good speed, but it would have been more resistant to the blows of the flak.
During operations in Afghanistan, a confirmed patrol of armed Taliban fighters is spotted by an observation balloon cam. An A-10 Warthog is called in for gun runs on the patrol before they are able to establish their ambush on U.S. forces up ahead. In the above video see, What A-10 Did to them.
The A-10A 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.
A-10 is a flying tank or tank destroyer. It has a 30mm GAU-8 Avenger designed to penetrate challenging targets like tanks. A-10 can destroy any tank in the world in the above video have a look at A-10 Destroying tank
Cockpit view Video of A-10 aircraft from Davis Monthan AFB, Ariz.
Operation history of A-10
Role of A-10 in the Gulf War
The A-10 was used in combat for the first time during the Gulf War in 1991, destroying more than 900 Iraqi tanks, 2,000 other military vehicles, and 1,200 artillery pieces .A-10s also shot down two Iraqi helicopters with the GAU-8 cannon. The first of these was shot down by Captain Robert Swain over Kuwait on 6 February 1991 for the A-10’s first air-to-air victory.[92][93] Four A-10s were shot down during the war, all by surface-to-air missiles. Another two battle-damaged A-10s and OA-10As returned to base but were written off, some sustaining additional damage in crash landings
In the above video, A-10 Thunderbolt II performing a flight over the Arizona sky during a combat search and rescue training mission.
Role of A-10 in Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Iraqi Freedom began on 20 March 2003. Sixty OA-10/A-10 aircraft took part in early combat there. A-10s had a mission-capable rate of 85 percent in the war and fired 311,597 rounds of 30 mm ammunition. A single A-10 was shot down near Baghdad International Airport by Iraqi fire late in the campaign.
