The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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The Immortal A-10
by James Dunnigan
May 28, 2014
The U.S. Air Force wants to retire all of its A-10 ground support aircraft (to deal with a shrinking budget). The politicians don’t agree and it appears the air force will be forced to keep at least some of the A-10s. Some in Congress also want the air force to put those A-10s that are retired in storage, in the event of an emergency. That’s called Type 1000 storage and would cost over $50,000 a year per A-10 for the first five years and about $12,000 a year after that. It costs $43,000 to put an aircraft into storage and a thousand dollars a year to maintain it. Every four years the stored aircraft is taken out of storage, checked over to make everything is OK and then put back in storage. This coast over $40,000 (depending on what might have to be replaced or fixed). It takes one to four months to take an aircraft out of Type 1000 storage and return it to operational status. Once out of storage you also need about two pilots per A-10 to actually use it in combat. The longer the A-10s are in storage the harder it is to find pilots with any A-10 experience. That means it takes longer to put existing combat pilots (assuming there are many to spare) through transition (to flying the A-10) training.
Putting A-10s in Type 1000 storage is a lot cheaper (by over a million dollars a year) than keeping them in service but it is an option that even many air force leaders believe is prudent and affordable. It appears that some A-10s may end up in Type 1000 storage anyway.
While senior air force leadership is willing to get rid of all the A-10s, many of the politicians who approve the air force budget don’t agree. Nor do A-10 pilots and the ground troops who have relied on the A-10s for life-saving air support since September 11, 2001.
A-10s were designed during the Cold War for combat against Russian ground forces in Europe. That war never happened and the last American A-10 attack aircraft left Europe in mid-2013. Now some politicians believe the A-10 might be needed back in Europe to help confront an increasingly aggressive Russia. Meanwhile the A-10 proved to be a formidable combat aircraft in post-Cold War conflicts, first in the 1991 liberation of Kuwait and later in Afghanistan and Iraq. During the last decade the most requested ground support aircraft in Afghanistan has been the A-10. There was similar A-10 affection in Iraq. Troops from all nations quickly came to appreciate the unique abilities of this 1970s era aircraft that the U.S. Air Force has several times tried to retire. In 2011 the air force did announce that it was retiring 102 A-10s, leaving 243 in service. At the same time the air force accelerated the upgrading of the remaining A-10s to the A-10C standard.
Also called the PE (for precision engagement) model, the refurbished A-10Cs are supposed to remain in service until 2028, meaning most A-10Cs will have served over 40 years and as many as 16,000 flight hours. The upgrade effort has been underway since 2007. The upgrades include new electronics as well as structural and engine refurbishment. The A-10C provides the pilot with the same targeting and fire control gadgets the latest fighters have. The new A-10C cockpit has all the spiffy color displays and easy to use controls. Because it is a single-seat aircraft that flies close to the ground (something that requires a lot more concentration), all the automation in the cockpit allows the pilot to do a lot more, with less stress, exertion, and danger.
The basic A-10 is a 1960s design, so the new additions are quite spectacular in comparison. New commo gear has also been added, allowing A-10 pilots to share pix and vids with troops on the ground. The A-10 pilot also has access to the Blue Force Tracker system, so that the nearest friendly ground forces show up on the HUD (Head Up Display) when coming in low to use the 30mm cannon. The A-10 can now use smart bombs, making it a do-it-all aircraft for ground support.
A-10s are worked hard in Afghanistan. For example, an A-10 squadron has a dozen aircraft and 18 pilots. Pilots often average about a hundred hours a month in the air. That's about twenty sorties, as each sortie averages about five hours. The aircraft range all over southern Afghanistan, waiting for troops below to call for some air support. The A-10, nicknamed "Warthog" or just "hog", could always fly low and slow and was designed, and armored, to survive a lot of ground fire. The troops trust the A-10 more than the F-16 or any other aircraft used for ground support.
The A-10 is a 23 ton, twin engine, single seat aircraft whose primary weapon is a multi-barrel 30mm cannon originally designed to fire armored piercing shells at Russian tanks. These days the 1,174 30mm rounds are mostly high explosive. The 30mm cannon fires 363 gram (12.7 ounce) rounds at the rate of about 65 a second. The cannon usually fires in one or two second bursts. In addition, the A-10 can carry seven tons of bombs and missiles. These days the A-10 goes out with smart bombs (GPS and laser guided) and Maverick missiles. It can also carry a targeting pod, enabling the pilot to use high magnification day/night cameras to scour the area for enemy activity. Cruising speed is 560 kilometers an hour and the A-10 can slow down to about 230 kilometers an hour. In Afghanistan two drop tanks are usually carried, to give the aircraft more fuel and maximum time over the battlefield.
If there is another major war in someplace like Korea, Eastern Europe or Iran, the A-10s would once more be one of the most popular warplane with the ground troops.
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