Blog 51: The Tale of the Beloved (and Underappreciated) A-10 Thunderbolt II
Welcome back to Brooke In The Air! We’ll get back to weekly vlogs very soon, I promise. But for now, I’m content with telling you all about amazing and interesting aircraft.
This week we’re focusing on everyone’s most loved (and/or hated) aircraft, the Fairchild-Republic (now Boeing and Grumman) A-10A Thunderbolt II affectionately known as “The Warthog”, the ultimate close-air support aircraft for the US Air Force.
USAF A-10Cs at the Air Force’s Razorback Range munitions test facility
Source: USAF Senior Airman Matthew Bruch
- https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1173912/fearsome-four-ship-188th-warthogs-train-razorback-range, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56208988
THE BASICS
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, but is commonly referred to as the "Warthog" or simply "Hog".
The A-10 was designed to provide close air support (or CAS) to friendly ground troops by attacking armored vehicles, tanks, and other enemy ground forces; it is the only production-built aircraft designed solely for CAS to have served with the U.S. Air Force. Its secondary mission is to direct other aircraft in attacks on ground targets, a role called forward air controller-airborne; aircraft used primarily in this role are designated “OA-10.”
The A-10 was intended to improve on the performance and firepower of the comparatively primitive Douglas A-1 Skyraider. The Thunderbolt II's airframe was designed around the high-power 30-mm GAU-8 Avenger rotary autocannon.
The Thunderbolt II’s overall airframe was designed for durability, with measures such as 1,200 pounds (540 kg) of titanium armor to protect the cockpit and aircraft systems, enabling it to absorb damage and continue flying. Its ability to take off and land from relatively short runways permits operation from airstrips close to the front lines, and its simple design enables maintenance with minimal facilities.
The A-10 served in the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm), the American-led intervention against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, where the aircraft distinguished itself. The A-10 also participated in other conflicts such as in Grenada, the Balkans, Afghanistan, the Iraq War, and against the Islamic State in the Middle East.
OVERVIEW / INTRODUCTION
~ The Skyraider ~
Douglas A-1 Skyraider
Source: Clemens Vasters from Viersen, Germany - Douglas A-1 Skyraider (AD-4NA, 126965), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28079761
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 current A-10C configuration, with modern avionics for use with precision weaponry. The U.S. Air Force had stated the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II would replace the A-10 as it entered service, but this remains highly contentious within the USAF, and in current political circles.
With a variety of upgrades and wing replacements, the A-10's complete service life can be extended to 2040; the service has no planned retirement date as of June, 2023.
then-McDonnell (McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) F-101 Voodoo at its height with the New York ANG (Air National Guard)
The development of conventionally armed attack aircraft in the United States stagnated after World War II, as design efforts for tactical aircraft focused on the delivery of nuclear weapons using high-speed designs like the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo and Republic F-105 Thunderchief. As the U.S. military entered the Vietnam War, its main ground-attack aircraft was the Korean War-era Douglas A-1 Skyraider.
The Skyraider (see above) was a more than capable aircraft for its era, with a relatively large payload and long loiter time, however the propeller-driven design was relatively slow and extremely vulnerable to ground fire.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy lost 266 A-1s in action in Vietnam, an unacceptable loss percentage, largely from small-arms fire. It was also a consensus that the A-1 Skyraider also had inadequate firepower for the task at hand.
A POTENTIAL and HOPEFUL SOLUTION
The complete lack of modern conventional attack capability prompted calls for a specialized attack aircraft. On the 7th of June, 1961, the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the USAF to develop two tactical aircraft, one for the long-range strike and interdictor role, and the other focusing on the fighter-bomber mission. The former was the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) intended to be common design for the USAF and the US Navy, which emerged as the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, while the second was filled by a version of the U.S. Navy's McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.
Republic F-105 Thunderchief, shown here with bombs loaded on its pylons
McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II, see one of last vlogs and blogs for a more detailed analysis on the F-4 Phantom II
While the Phantom went on to be one of the most successful fighter designs of the 1960s and proved to be a capable fighter-bomber, its short loiter time over target was a major problem, as was its poor low-speed performance, albeit to be a slightly lesser extent. It was also expensive to buy and operate, with a flyaway cost of $2 million USD in FY1965 ($18.6 million USD today), and operational costs over $900 per flight hour ($8,000 per hour in today's dollars).
After a broad review of its tactical force structure, the USAF decided to adopt a low-cost aircraft to supplement the expensive and overall inadequate F-4 Phantom and F-111 Aardvark.
A U.S. Navy Ling-Temco-Vought A-7E-5-CV Corsair II (BuNo 156863) of Attack Squadron 146 (VA-146) "Blue Diamonds" in flight, 16 November 1974. VA-146 assigned to Attack Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CVA-64). Circa 1974
The USAF first focused on the Northrop F-5, which had air-to-air capability. A 1965 cost-effectiveness study by Congress shifted the focus from the F-5 to the less expensive A-7D variant of the LTV A-7 Corsair II (see above), and a contract was subsequently awarded. However, this aircraft (the A-7) doubled in cost with demands for an upgraded engine, and new avionics plus maintenance.
ARMY HELICOPTER COMPETITION - AND NOTABLE CONTROVERSY
During this period, the United States Army had been introducing the Bell UH-1 Iroquois into service. First used in its intended role as a transport, it was soon modified in the field to carry more machine guns in what became commonly known, especially today, as the helicopter gunship role. This proved effective against the lightly armed enemy, and new gun and rocket pods were added.
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark of the USAF in position for mid-air refueling with a KC-135 Stratotanker
Source: USAF Master Sgt. Patrick Nugent - flickr, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109575695
Soon, the Bell AH-1 Cobra was introduced which was more of a prototype attack platform. The Cobra was an attack helicopter armed with long-range BGM-71 TOW missiles able to destroy tanks from outside the range of defensive fire. The helicopter was effective and prompted the U.S. military to change its defensive strategy in Europe into blunting any Warsaw Pact advance with anti-tank helicopters instead of the tactical nuclear weapons that had been the basis for NATO's battle plans since the 1950s.
The Cobra was a quickly-made helicopter based on the UH-1 Iroquois, and was introduced in the mid-1960s as an interim design until the U.S. Army "Advanced Aerial Fire Support System" program delivered. The Army selected the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne, a more capable attack aircraft with greater speed for initial production.
Bell AH-1 “HueyCobra” / Cobra gunship
The development of the anti-tank helicopter (see below) concerned the USAF; a 1966 USAF study of existing close air support (CAS) capabilities revealed gaps in the escort and fire suppression roles that the Cheyenne could fill. The study concluded that the service should acquire an actual simple, inexpensive, dedicated CAS aircraft at least as capable as the AH-1 Cobra and especially the A-1 Skyraider, and that it should develop doctrine, tactics, and procedures for such aircraft to accomplish the missions for which the attack helicopters were provided.
A-X PROGRAM APPROVED
On the 8th of September in 1966, General John P. McConnell, then-Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, ordered that a specialized CAS aircraft be designed, developed, and obtained. On 22 December, a Requirements Action Directive was issued for the A-X CAS airplane, and the Attack Experimental (A-X) program office was formed in the Pentagon. On the 6th of March in 1967, the USAF released a request for information to 21 defense contractors for the A-X.
Bell AH-56 Cheyenne, the US Army’s main and hopeful competition for the A-10 Program
In May of 1970, the USAF issued a modified, more detailed Request For Proposals (RFP) for the aircraft. The threat of Soviet armored forces and all-weather attack operations had become more serious. The requirements now included that the aircraft would be designed specifically for the 30 mm rotary cannon.
The Request For Proposals also specified a maximum speed of 460 mph (or 400 knots), takeoff distance of 1,200 m, external load of 7,300 kg, with a 460 km mission radius, and a unit cost of US$1.4 million ($10.5 million today - still cheap by comparison to similar projects).
The A-X would be the first USAF aircraft designed exclusively for CAS. During this time, a separate RFP was released for A-X's 30-mm cannon with requirements for a high rate of fire (4,000 rounds per minute) and a high muzzle velocity. Six companies submitted aircraft proposals, with Northrop and Fairchild-Republic selected to build prototypes: the YA-9A and YA-10A, respectively. General Electric and Philco-Ford were selected to build and test the GAU-8 cannon prototypes.
Interior of the A-10A - Schematic
Two YA-10 prototypes were built in the Republic factory in Farmingdale, New York, and first flown on the 10th of May in 1972 by pilot Howard "Sam" Nelson. Production A-10s were built by Fairchild Aircraft in Hagerstown, Maryland. After trials and a fly-off against the YA-9, on 18 January 1973, the USAF announced the YA-10's selection for production. General Electric was selected to build the GAU-8 cannon in June 1973. The YA-10 had an additional fly-off in 1974 against the Ling-Temco-Vought A-7D Corsair II, the principal USAF attack aircraft at the time, to prove the need for a new attack aircraft. The first production A-10 flew in October of 1975, and deliveries commenced in March of 1976.
One experimental two-seat A-10 Night Adverse Weather (N/AW) version was built by Fairchild Aircraft by converting the first Demonstration Testing and Evaluation (DT&E) A-10A for consideration by the USAF. It included a second seat for a weapon systems officer responsible for electronic countermeasures (ECM), navigation and target acquisition. The N/AW version did not interest the USAF or export customers. The two-seat trainer version was ordered by the USAF in 1981, but funding was canceled by the U.S. Congress and was never produced.
Currently, the only two-seat A-10 resides at Edwards Air Force Base's Flight Test Center Museum in California.
MASS PRODUCTION & AIRFRAME FATIGUE
A-10A prior to Upgrade Work
On the 10th of February, 1976, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill Clements authorized full-rate production while the first A-10 was accepted by the USAF Tactical Air Command on 30th of March in 1976. Production continued and reached a peak rate of 13 aircraft per month.
By 1984, 715 airplanes, including the two prototypes and six primary development aircraft, had been delivered via mass production.
Modern A-10C Thunderbolt II
When full-rate (mass) production was first authorized, the A-10's planned service life was 6,000 flying hours. A small design reinforcement was quickly adopted when initial fatigue testing failed at 80% of testing; the A-10 passed fatigue tests with the fix. 8,000-flight-hour service lives were becoming common at the time, so fatigue testing of the A-10 continued with a new 8,000-hour target. This new target quickly discovered serious cracks at Wing Station 23 (WS23) where the outboard portions of the wings are joined to the fuselage. The first production change was to address this problem by adding “cold working.”
Soon after, the USAF found that the real-world A-10 fleet fatigue was harsher than estimated, forcing a change to fatigue testing and introduce "spectrum 3" equivalent flight-hour testing.
Spectrum 3 fatigue testing started in 1979. This round of testing quickly determined that more drastic reinforcement would be needed. The second change in production, starting with aircraft No. 442, was to increase the thickness of the lower skin on the outer wing panels. A tech order was issued to retrofit the "thick skin" to the whole fleet, but the tech order was rescinded after roughly 242 planes, leaving about 200 planes with the original "thin skin". Starting with aircraft No. 530, “cold working” was performed, and this retrofit was subsequently performed on earlier aircraft. Similar to the modern engine refit being performed on the B-52 bomber.
CURRENT LIFE UPGRADES
A-10As in formation over California
The A-10 has received many upgrades since entering service. In 1978, it received the Pave Penny laser receiver pod, which receives reflected laser radiation from laser designators to allow the aircraft to deliver laser-guided munitions. The Pave Penny pod is carried on a pylon mounted below the right side of the cockpit and has a clear view of the ground.
In 1980, the A-10 began receiving a substantive inertial navigation system. In the early 1990s, the A-10 began to receive the Low-Altitude Safety and Targeting Enhancement (LASTE) upgrade, which provided computerized weapon-aiming equipment, an autopilot, and a ground-collision warning system. In 1999, aircraft began receiving Global Positioning System navigation systems and a multi-function display. The LASTE system was upgraded with an Integrated Flight & Fire Control Computer (IFFCC).
HOG UP and Wing Replacement Program (WRP)
In 1987, Grumman Aerospace took over support for the A-10 program. In 1993, Grumman updated the damage tolerance assessment and Force Structural Maintenance Plan and Damage Threat Assessment. Over the next few years, problems with wing structure fatigue, first noticed in production years earlier, began to come to the fore. Implementation of the maintenance plan was greatly delayed by the base realignment and closure commission (BRAC), which led to 80% of the original workforce being let go.
During inspections in 1995 and 1996, cracks were found on many A-10s; while many were in line with updated predictions from 1993, two of these were classified as "near-critical" size, well-beyond predictions. In August of 1998, Grumman produced a new plan to address these issues and increase life span to 16,000 hours. This led to the "HOG UP" program, which commenced in 1999. Additional aspects were added to HOG UP over time, including new fuel bladders, flight control system changes, and engine nacelle inspections. In 2001, the cracks were reclassified as "critical", which meant they were considered repairs and not upgrades, which allowed bypassing normal acquisition channels for more rapid implementation.
Underside showing the GAU-8A Gatling Cannon
An independent review of the HOG UP program, presented in September 2003, concluded that the data on which the wing upgrade relied could no longer be trusted. Shortly thereafter, fatigue testing on a test wing failed prematurely and also mounting problems with wings failing in-service inspections at an increasing rate became apparent. The USAF estimated that they would run out of wings by 2011. Of the plans explored, replacing the wings with new ones was the least expensive, at an initial cost of $741 million USD and a total cost of $1.72 billion USD over the program's life. A comparatively cheap cost.
In 2005, a business case was produced with three options to extend the fleet's life. The first two options involved expanding the service life extension program (SLEP) at a cost of $4.6 billion and $3.16 billion USD, respectively. The third option, worth $1.72 billion USD, was to build 242 new wings and avoid the need to expand the SLEP.
Then in 2006, option three (3) was chosen and Boeing won the contract. The base contract is for 117 wings with options for 125 additional wings. In 2013, the USAF exercised a portion of the option to add 56 wings, putting 173 wings on order with options remaining for 69 additional wings. In November 2011, two A-10s flew with the new wings fitted. The new wings improved mission readiness, decreased maintenance costs, and allowed the A-10 to be operated up to 2035 if necessary. Re-winging work was organized under the Thick-skin Urgent Spares Kitting (TUSK) Program.
A-10C Straight-On View
In 2014, as part of plans to retire the A-10, the USAF considered halting the wing replacement program to save an additional $500 million; however, by May 2015 the re-winging program was too advanced to be financially efficient to cancel. Boeing stated in February 2016 that the A-10 could operate to 2040 with the new TUSK wings.
MODERNIZING THE HOG
The A-10C
From 2005 to June 2011, the entire fleet of 356 A-10s and OA-10s were modernized in the Precision Engagement program and redesignated A-10C. Upgrades included all-weather combat capability, an improved fire control system (FCS), electronic countermeasures (ECM), smart bomb targeting, a modern communications suite including a Link-16 radio and SATCOM, and cockpit upgrades comprising two multifunction displays and HOTAS configuration mixing the F-16's flight stick with the F-15's throttle. The Government Accountability Office in 2007 estimated the cost of upgrading, refurbishing, and service life extension plans to total $2.25 billion through 2013. In July 2010, the USAF issued Raytheon a contract to integrate a Helmet Mounted Integrated Targeting (HMIT) system into the A-10C. The LASTE system was replaced with the integrated flight and fire control computer (IFFCC) included in the upgrade.
Throughout its life, multiple software upgrades have been made. While this work was to be stopped under plans to retire the A-10 in February 2014, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James ordered that the latest upgrade, designated Suite 8, continue in response to congressional pressure. Suite 8 software includes IFF Mode 5, which modernizes the ability to identify the A-10 to friendly units. Additionally, the Pave Penny pods and pylons were removed as their receive-only capability has been replaced by the AN/AAQ-28(V)4 LITENING AT targeting pods or Sniper XR targeting pod, which both have laser designators and laser rangefinders.
ACTUAL DESIGN
A-10C Undergoing Mid-Air Refueling with the Michigan Air National Guard (ANG)
The A-10 has a cantilever low-wing monoplane wing with a wide chord. It has superior maneuverability at low speeds and altitude due to its large wing area, high wing aspect ratio, and large ailerons. The wing also allows short takeoffs and landings, permitting operations from austere forward airfields near front lines. The A-10 can loiter for extended periods and operate under 1,000-foot (300 m) ceilings with 1.5-mile (2.4 km) visibility. It typically flies at a relatively low speed of 300 knots (350 mph; 560 km/h), which makes it a better platform for the ground-attack role than fast fighter-bombers, which often have difficulty targeting small, slow-moving targets.
The leading edge of the wing has a honeycomb structure panel construction, providing strength with minimal weight; similar panels cover the flap shrouds, elevators, rudders and sections of the fins. The skin panels are integral with the stringers and are fabricated using computer-controlled machining, reducing production time and cost. Combat experience has shown that this type of panel is more resistant to damage. The skin is not load-bearing, so damaged skin sections can be easily replaced in the field, with makeshift materials if necessary.
The ailerons are at the far ends of the wings for greater rolling moment and have two distinguishing features: The ailerons are larger than is typical, almost 50 percent of the wingspan, providing improved control even at slow speeds; the aileron is also split, making it a deceleron.
The A-10 is designed to be refueled, rearmed, and serviced with minimal equipment and time. Its simple design enables maintenance at forward bases with limited facilities. An unusual feature is that many of the aircraft's parts are interchangeable between the left and right sides, including the engines, main landing gear, and vertical stabilizers. The extremely sturdy landing gear, low-pressure tires and large, straight wings allow operation from short rough strips even with an overly heavy aircraft ordnance load, allowing the aircraft to operate from damaged airbases, flying from taxiways, or even straight roadway sections.
The front landing gear is offset to the aircraft's right to allow placement of the 30-mm cannon with its firing barrel along the centerline of the aircraft. During ground taxi, the offset front landing gear causes the A-10 to have dissimilar turning radii; turning to the right on the ground takes less distance than turning left. The wheels of the main landing gear partially protrude from their nacelles when retracted, making gear-up belly landings easier to control and less damaging. All landing gears retract forward; if hydraulic power is lost, a combination of gravity and aerodynamic drag can lower and lock the gear in place. This action in turn helps with the aircraft's survivability.
Survivability
A-10C during Red Flag exercise in 2015, showing the underside.
The A-10 is battle-hardened to an exceptional degree, being able to survive direct hits from armor-piercing and high-explosive projectiles up to 23-mm. It has double-redundant hydraulic flight systems, and a mechanical system as a backup if hydraulics are completely lost. Flight without hydraulic power uses the manual reversion control system; pitch and yaw control engages automatically, roll control is simply pilot-selected.
In manual reversion mode (MRM) the A-10 is sufficiently controllable under favorable conditions to return to base, though control forces are greater than normal. It is designed to be able to fly with one engine, half of the tail, one elevator, and half of a wing missing.
As the A-10 operates close to enemy positions, it is an easy target for man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and enemy aircraft, therefore it carries both flares and chaff cartridges.
The cockpit, and parts of the flight-control systems are protected by 540 kg of titanium aircraft armor, referred to as a pilot’s "bathtub". The armor has been tested to withstand strikes from 23-mm cannon fire and some indirect hits from 57-mm shell fragments. It is made up of titanium plates with thicknesses varying from 13 to 38-mm determined by a study of likely trajectories and deflection angles.
The armor makes up almost six percent of the A-10's empty weight. Any interior surface of the tub directly exposed to the pilot is covered by a multi-layer nylon spall shield to protect against shell fragmentation. The front windscreen and canopy are resistant to small arms fire.
Damaged A-10 piloted by Captain Kim “killer chick” Campbell. Kim made it back to base after a raid in Afghanistan. More than 5,000 independent bullet holes were found after examination.
The A-10 was intended to fly from forward air bases and semi-prepared runways in rough terrain where foreign object damage to an aircraft's engines is normally a high-risk. The unusual location of the General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofan engines decreases ingestion risk and also allows the engines to run while the aircraft is serviced and rearmed by ground crews, reducing turn-around time. The wings are also mounted closer to the ground, simplifying servicing and rearming operations. The heavy engines require strong support: four bolts connect the engine pylons to the airframe. The engines' high 6:1 bypass ratio contributes to a relatively small infrared signature, and their position directs exhaust over the tailplanes further shielding it from detection by infrared homing surface-to-air missiles.
To reduce the likelihood of damage to the fuel system, all four fuel tanks are located near the aircraft's center and are separated from the fuselage; projectiles would need to penetrate the aircraft's skin before reaching a fuel tank's outer skin. Compromised fuel transfer lines self-seal; if damage exceeds a tank's self-sealing capabilities, check valves prevent fuel from flowing into a compromised tank. Most fuel system components are inside the tanks so that component failure will not lead to fuel loss. The refueling system is also purged after use. Reticulated polyurethane foam lines both the inner and outer sides of the fuel tanks, retaining debris and restricting fuel spillage in the event of damage. The engines are shielded from the rest of the airframe by firewalls and fire extinguishing equipment. If all four main tanks were lost, two self-sealing sump tanks contain fuel for 370 km of flight.
ARMAMENT
A-10C in Attack, firing its GAU-8A 30-mm Avenger-class Gatling cannon
Although the A-10 can carry numerous munitions, its primary built-in weapon is the 30×173 mm GAU-8/A Avenger autocannon. One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, it fires depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. The GAU-8 is a hydraulically driven seven-barrel rotary cannon designed specifically for the anti-tank role with a high rate of fire; the original design could be switched by the pilot to 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute, this was later changed to a fixed rate of 3,900 rounds per minute. The cannon takes approximately a half second to spin up to its maximum rate of fire. So 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 65 or 70 rounds per second thereafter. It is accurate enough to place 80 percent of its shots within a 12.4 meter-diameter circle from 1,220 m. while in flight. The GAU-8 is optimized for a slant range of 1,220 m with the A-10 in a 30-degree dive. The fuselage of the aircraft is built around the cannon. The GAU-8/A is mounted slightly to the port side; the barrel in the firing location is on the starboard side so it is aligned with the aircraft's centerline. The gun's 1.816 meter internal ammunition drum can hold up to 1,350 rounds of 30-mm ammunition, but generally holds 1,174 rounds. To protect the GAU-8/A rounds from enemy fire, armor plates of differing thicknesses between the aircraft skin and the drum are designed to detonate incoming shells. The AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface (AGM) missile is a commonly used munition for the A-10, targeted via electro-optical (TV-guided) or infrared. The Maverick allows target engagement at much greater ranges than the cannon, and thus less risk from anti-aircraft systems. During Desert Storm, in the absence of dedicated forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras for night vision, the Maverick's infrared camera was used for night missions as a "poor man's FLIR".
Other weapons include cluster bombs and Hydra 70 unguided rocket pods. The A-10 is equipped to carry GPS- and laser-guided bombs, such as the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), Paveway series bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser and AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSW) glide bombs. A-10s usually fly with an ALQ-131 Electronic countermeasures (ECM) pod under one wing and two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for self-defense under the other wing.
LIVERY / COLORS
A-10C illustrating the “European I” paint scheme.
Since the A-10 flies low to the ground and at subsonic speed, aircraft camouflage is important to make the aircraft more difficult to see. Many different types of paint schemes have been tried. These have included a "peanut scheme" of sand, yellow, and field drab; black and white colors for winter operations and a tan, green, and brown mixed pattern. Many A-10s also featured a false canopy painted in dark gray on the underside of the aircraft, just behind the gun. This form of automimicry is an attempt to confuse the enemy as to aircraft attitude and maneuver direction. Many A-10s feature nose art, such as shark mouth or warthog head features.
The two most common markings applied to the A-10 have been the European I woodland camouflage scheme and a two-tone gray scheme. The European woodland scheme was designed to minimize visibility from above, as the threat from hostile fighter aircraft was felt to outweigh that from ground fire. It uses dark green, medium green, and dark gray to blend in with the typical European forest terrain and was used from the 1980s to the early 1990s. Following the end of the Cold War, and based on experience during the 1991 Gulf War, the air-to-air threat was no longer seen to be as important as that from ground fire, and a new color scheme known as "Compass Ghost" was chosen to minimize visibility from below. This two-tone gray scheme has darker gray color on top, with a lighter gray on the underside of the aircraft, and started to be applied in the early 1990s.
OPERATIONS / RECEPTION
The first unit to receive the A-10 was the 355th Tactical Training Wing, based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in March of 1976. The first unit to achieve full combat readiness was the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina, in October, 1977.
A-10s were initially an unwelcome addition to many in the USAF; most pilots did not want to switch to it as fighter pilots traditionally favored speed and appearance. In 1987, many A-10s were shifted to the forward air control (FAC) role and redesignated OA-10.
In the FAC role, the OA-10 is typically equipped with up to six pods of 70-mm Hydra rockets, usually with smoke or white phosphorus warheads used for target marking for friendly forces. OA-10s are physically unchanged and remain fully combat capable despite the redesignation.
The 23rd TFW's (Tactical Fighter Wing) A-10s were deployed to Bridgetown, Barbados during Operation Urgent Fury, the 1983 American Invasion of Grenada. They provided air cover for the U.S. Marine Corps landings on the island of Carriacou in late October of 1983, but did not fire weapons as no resistance was met.
A-10C in Kandahar, Afghanistan undergoing routine maintenance
The A-10 was used in combat for the first time during the Gulf War in 1991, with 132 being deployed. A-10s 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. Four A-10s were shot down during the war by surface-to-air missiles and eleven A-10s were hit by anti-air artillery rounds. Another two battle-damaged A-10s and OA-10As returned to base and were written off. Some sustained additional damage in crash landings. At the beginning of the war, A-10s flew missions against the Iraqi Republican Guard, but due to heavy attrition, from 15 February they were restricted to within 20 nautical miles (37 km) of the southern border. A-10s also flew missions hunting Iraqi Scud missiles. The A-10 had a mission capable rate of 95.7 percent, flew 8,100 sorties, and launched 90 percent of the AGM-65 Maverick missiles fired in the conflict.
Shortly after the Gulf War, the USAF abandoned the idea of replacing the A-10 with a CAS version of the F-16.
FURTHER OPERATIONAL HISTORY
A-10s fired approximately 10,000 30-mm rounds in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994–95. Following the seizure of heavy weapons by Bosnian Serbs from a warehouse in Ilidža, multiple sorties were launched to locate and destroy the captured equipment. On 5 August 1994, two A-10s located and strafed an anti-tank vehicle. Afterward, the Serbs agreed to return the remaining heavy weapons. In August 1995, NATO launched an offensive called Operation Deliberate Force. A-10s flew CAS missions, attacking Bosnian Serb artillery and positions. In late September of that same year, A-10s began flying patrols again.
A-10s returned to the Balkan region as part of Operation Allied Force in Kosovo beginning in March of 1999. Also in March of 1999, A-10s escorted and supported search and rescue helicopters in finding a downed F-117 pilot. The A-10s were deployed to support search and rescue missions, but gradually received more ground attack missions. The A-10's first successful attack in Operation Allied Force happened on 6 April 1999; A-10s remained in action until the end of combat in June 1999.
During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, A-10s did not initially take part. Beginning in March 2002, A-10 squadrons were deployed to Pakistan and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan for the campaign against Taliban and Al Qaeda, known as Operation Anaconda. Afterwards, they remained in-country, fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants.
A-10C pilot mounting up
Operation Iraqi Freedom began on 20 March 2003. Sixty OA-10/A-10s took part in early combat. United States Air Forces Central Command issued Operation Iraqi Freedom: By the Numbers, a declassified report about the aerial campaign in the conflict on 30 April 2003. During the initial invasion of Iraq, A-10s had a mission capable rate of 85 percent and fired 311,597 rounds of 30 mm ammunition. The type also flew 32 missions to airdrop propaganda leaflets. A single A-10 was shot down near Baghdad International Airport by Iraqi fire late in the campaign.
In September of 2007, the A-10C with the Precision Engagement Upgrade (PEU) reached initial operating capability. The A-10C first deployed to Iraq in 2007 with the 104th Fighter Squadron of the Maryland Air National Guard. The A-10C's digital avionics and communications systems greatly reduced the time to acquire and attack CAS targets.
A-10s flew 32 percent of combat sorties in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. These sorties ranged from 27,800 to 34,500 annually between 2009 and 2012. In the first half of 2013, they flew 11,189 sorties in Afghanistan. From the start of 2006 to October 2013, A-10s conducted 19 percent of CAS missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than the F-15E Strike Eagle and B-1B Lancer, but less than the 33 percent flown by F-16s.
A-10Cs in Afghanistan
In March of 2011, six (6) A-10s were deployed as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, the coalition intervention in Libya against Bashar Al Assad. They participated in attacks on Libyan ground forces there.
The 122nd Fighter Wing of the USAF revealed it would deploy to the Middle East back in October of 2014 with twelve (12) A-10s. Although the deployment had been planned a year in advance in a support role, the timing coincided with the ongoing Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIL militants. From mid-November, U.S. commanders began sending A-10s to hit IS targets in central and northwestern Iraq on an almost daily basis. In a two month period, A-10s flew 11 percent of all USAF sorties since the start of operations in August 2014. On the 15th of November in 2015, two days after the ISIL attacks in Paris, A-10s and AC-130s destroyed a convoy of over 100 ISIL-operated oil tanker trucks in Syria as part of an intensification of the U.S.-led intervention against ISIL called Operation Tidal Wave II (named after Operation Tidal Wave during World War II, a failed attempt to raid German oil fields) in an attempt to stop oil smuggling as a source of funds for the group.
The A-10 was involved in the killing of 35 Afghan civilians from 2010 to 2015, more than any other U.S. military aircraft and also involved in killing ten U.S. troops in friendly-fire over four incidents between 2001 and 2015. These incidents have been assessed as "inconclusive and statistically insignificant" in terms of the plane's capability according to the department of defense.
On the 19th of January, 2018, 12 A-10s from the 303d Expeditionary Fighter Squadron were deployed to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, to provide CAS, marking the first time in more than three years A-10s had been deployed to Afghanistan.
FUTURE OF THE HOG?
The A-10's future remains a subject of debate. In 2007, the USAF expected it to remain in service until 2028 and possibly later, when it would likely be replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Project On Government Oversight Winslow Wheeler, a critic of this plan, said that replacing the A-10 with the F-35 would be a "giant leap backwards" given the A-10's performance and the F-35's high costs. In 2012, the USAF considered the F-35B STOVL variant as a replacement CAS aircraft, but concluded that it could not generate sufficient sorties. In August 2013, Congress and the USAF examined various proposals, including the F-35 and the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle filling the A-10's role. Proponents state that the A-10's armor and cannon are superior to aircraft such as the F-35 for ground attack, that guided munitions could be jammed, and that ground commanders commonly request A-10 support.
In the USAF's FY 2015 budget, the service considered retiring the A-10 and other single-mission aircraft, prioritizing multi-mission aircraft; cutting a whole fleet and its infrastructure was seen as the only method for major savings. The U.S. Army had expressed interest in obtaining some A-10s were the USAF to retire them, but later stated there was "no chance" of that happening. The USAF stated that retirement would save $3.7 billion from 2015 to 2019. Guided munitions allows more aircraft to perform CAS duties and reduces the need for specialized aircraft; since 2001, multirole aircraft and bombers have performed 80 percent of operational CAS missions. The USAF also said that the A-10 was more vulnerable to advanced anti-aircraft defenses, but the Army replied that it had proved invaluable due to its versatile weapons loads, psychological impact, and limited logistics needs.
In January 2015, USAF officials told lawmakers that it would take 15 years to fully develop a new attack aircraft to replace the A-10; that year General Herbert J. Carlisle, the head of Air Combat Command, stated that a follow-on weapon system for the A-10 may need development. It planned for F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-15Es Strike Eagles to initially take up CAS sorties, and later by the F-35A once sufficient numbers become operationally available over the next decade. In July of that year, Boeing held initial discussions on the prospects of selling retired or stored A-10s in near-flyaway condition to international customers. However, the USAF stated that it would not permit any to be sold.
CURRENT AND FUTURE PLANS
A-10C being readied for takeoff
Plans to develop a replacement aircraft were announced by the US Air Combat Command in August 2015. In 2016, the USAF began studying future CAS aircraft to succeed the A-10 in low-intensity "permissive conflicts" like counterterrorism and regional stability operations, noting the F-35 to be too expensive to operate in day-to-day roles. Various platforms were considered, including low-end AT-6 Wolverine and A-29 Super Tucano turboprops and the Textron AirLand Scorpion as more basic off-the-shelf options to more sophisticated clean-sheet attack aircraft or "AT-X" derivatives of the T-X next-generation trainer as wholly new attack platforms.
In January of 2016, the USAF was "indefinitely freezing" plans to retire the A-10. Beyond congressional opposition, its use in anti-ISIS operations, deployments to Eastern Europe as a response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, and reevaluation of F-35 numbers necessitated its retention.
In February of 2016, the USAF deferred the final retirement date again until 2022 after F-35s replace it on a squadron-by-squadron basis. In October 2016, the USAF Materiel Command brought the depot maintenance line back to full capacity in preparation for re-winging the fleet. In June 2017, it was announced that the A-10 retained indefinitely.
A-10C in flight over Allied Germany, equipped for close air support
The ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine led to some observers pushing for A-10s to be loaned to Ukraine while critics noted the diplomatic and tactical complications involved. In an interview in December 2022, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that in late March he asked the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin for 100 surplus A-10s, noting their value against Russian tank columns. However, Austin reportedly told Minister Reznikov that the plan was "impossible", and that the "old-fashioned and slow" A-10 would be a "squeaky target" for Russian air defenses. Insert collective groan and eye-roll here.
VARIANTS
YA-10A
Pre-production variant. 12 were built.
A-10A
Single-seat close air support, ground-attack production version. First and primary mass production version
OA-10A
A-10As converted and used for airborne forward air control.
YA-10B Night/Adverse Weather (N/AW)
Two-seat experimental prototype, for work at night and in bad weather. The one YA-10B prototype was converted from an A-10A.
A-10C
A-10As updated under the incremental Precision Engagement (PE) program. Current mass variant.
A-10PCAS
Proposed unmanned version developed by Raytheon and Aurora Flight Sciences as part of DARPA's Persistent Close Air Support program. The PCAS program eventually dropped the idea of using an optionally manned A-10.
SPA-10
Proposed by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to replace its North American T-28 Trojan thunderstorm penetration aircraft. The A-10 would have its military engines, avionics, and oxygen system replaced by civilian versions. The engines and airframe would receive protection from hail, and the GAU-8 Avenger Gatling cannon would be replaced with ballast or scientific instruments. This project was canceled after partial modification of a single A-10C.
