The Flying Tank

A-10 Thunderbolt II 

Learning from experience in the Vietnam War where the US only had F-105 Thunderchief and F-4 Phantom or even A-1 Skyraider and Army helicopters to do the CAS or close air support, the US Air Force in the 1970’s decided it needed a dedicated airplane for the role of ground attack aircraft that can support friendly ground troops and destroy armoured vehicles and static enemy positions that is harder to shoot down and can withstand shots from anti-armor weaponry. What the US Air Force got in 1972 was the A-10 Thunderbolt II, a single seat, twin turbofan engine, straight wing jet from the Fairchild Republic.

The A-10 itself was built around its main gun, the General Electric’s 30 millimeter GAU-8 Avenger cannon that can fire 65-70 rounds of depleted uranium armor piercing shells every second. The GAU-8 has seven independent barrels with rotary-locking bolts that are mechanically actuated. The gun's 5 feet 11.5 inches ammunition drum generally holds 1,174 rounds of 30 mm ammunition. Armor plates between the aircraft skin and the ammunition drum that are designed to detonate incoming shells are protecting the rounds. Other weapons are AGM-65 Maverick air to surface missiles, cluster bombs and Hydra rocket pods. It usually carries ALQ-131 ECM pod and the AIM-9 Sidewinder air to air missile for protection.

It is powered by a pair of General Electric TF34-GE-100 Turbofan engines and the unusual location of it protects the engine from being damaged by foreign objects and makes the plane easier to fly when one fails. The pilot is also well protected, sitting in the “bathtub”. A 1,200 pounds of titanium aircraft armor that can withstand a direct hit from 23mm armor piercing rounds. The front windscreen and canopy are resistant to small firearms too.

Two A-10 Thunderbolt II flying in formation 

The designe is very simple, the cantilever low-wing monoplane wing with a wide chord gives it excellent maneuravility even at a low speed of 300 knots and can loiter at 1,000 feet which is an advantage for close air support operations. Another feature is that the engines, landing gears and vertical stabilizer parts are interchangeable to the left and right side. Its strong landing gear and low preassured wheels together with the straight wings helps it take-off and land on rough short runways even if its wings is full of ordnance.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II have proven its critics wrong when it was first used in combat in the Gulf War, living to one of its nicknames as “the flying tank” when it destroyed more than 900 Iraqi tanks, 2,000 military vehicles, 1,200 artillery pieces and 2 Iraqi helicopters.