Fact File: The A-10 in World War III

[Matt Wiser]

The A-10 in the war:


The A-10 Warthog in World War III


The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, more popularly known by the men and women who fly or maintain it, along with the general public, as the Warthog, had a distinguished career in the Third World War, as well as in the Cuba Intervention and the Baja War. Indeed, the aircraft's war service was enough to promote export sales, as South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey became operators of the A-10 postwar, along with Canada. The following are the variants of the A-10 that saw service, initially with the USAF, and later on, with overseas customers.

A-10A: Initial production version for the USAF. Deployed to England, South Korea, and Alaska prewar as well as to wings in the Continental United States. Production continued during the war at the Fairchild-Republic plant in Hagerstown, MD, with production for FMS customers postwar.

A-10B: Prototype Night/All Weather two-seat variant. Initially rejected by the USAF prewar, the aircraft was put into production as a Forward Air Control platform in 1986. The aircraft was fitted for, but not with, the avionics for the Night and All Weather mission, until the LANTIRN pod system became available in 1989. Two squadrons so fitted flew against the Brownsville Pocket and also against Cuba, attacking Cuban transportation targets as prelude to the planned invasion.

A-10C: Upgraded A-10A with LANTIRN and digital avionics. JDAM capability added in 2005-7. Aircraft saw combat in both Cuba and Mexico. FMS upgrades continuing.

A-10D: Upgraded B with full LANTIRN and digital avionics as per the A-10C.


Users:

USAF

RCAF

Postwar users:

Israel

Republic of China

Saudi Arabia

Turkey


Seven A-10 pilots (four posthumously) won the Medal of Honor during the war. An additional seventeen others won the Air Force Cross (six posthumously) for wartime heroism.

[Wolfman]

Ah, Ye Olde Warthog… Ivan and his buddies (lackeys) absolutely hated it…

[Poohbah]

I remember watching one Hog driver turn an entire Soviet Category A motor infantry battalion into Grunt Flambe in one freaking pass. FOON!

[Matt Wiser]

The Soviets didn't call the Hog "The "Devil's Cross" for nothing...

[Wolfman]

The Soviets didn't call the Hog "The "Devil's Cross" for nothing...

True that!

[jemhouston]

While the destruction it could render is impressive, the fact that if the same amount of damage was done to a M-60 tank would kill the tank, the A-10 could get it pilot home.

You can kill an A-10, but it's work.

[Bernard Woolley]

The Hog was certainly the scourge of Soviet armour. At least for the first half of the war. Once double digit Soviet SAMs and stuff like the ZSU-30 came along, she started to take significant losses. Along with any other Allied planes that flew at low level. Did also read about the Soviets using the old North Vietnamese wire across a valley trick. Even a tough aircraft like the Hog has trouble flying with an entire wing, or vertical tails missing.

There’s a good reason that CAS and BAI switched to medium altitude from late 1987 onwards. And why our air forces generally still do it that way. There’s also a very good reason that everybody developed stand off weapons like Brimstone. No modern aircrew want to be ‘down in the weeds’, unless it’s a permissive air environment.

It’s quite rare now, even for the A-10 to operate at low level on operations. Generally it uses stand off weapons from medium altitude. I would say that from my own experience of operations in Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, the two best CAS platforms out there are the Apache for accuracy and heavy bombers like the Lancer and BUFF for persistence.

[Poohbah]

The Hog was certainly the scourge of Soviet armour. At least for the first half of the war. Once double digit Soviet SAMs and stuff like the ZSU-30 came along, she started to take significant losses. Along with any other Allied planes that flew at low level. Did also read about the Soviets using the old North Vietnamese wire across a valley trick. Even a tough aircraft like the Hog has trouble flying with an entire wing, or vertical tails missing.

There’s a good reason that CAS and BAI switched to medium altitude from late 1987 onwards. And why our air forces generally still do it that way. There’s also a very good reason that everybody developed stand off weapons like Brimstone. No modern aircrew want to be ‘down in the weeds’, unless it’s a permissive air environment.

It’s quite rare now, even for the A-10 to operate at low level on operations. Generally it uses stand off weapons from medium altitude. I would say that from my own experience of operations in Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, the two best CAS platforms out there are the Apache for accuracy and heavy bombers like the Lancer and BUFF for persistence.

The wire across a valley thing was almost exclusively a New Mexico/Colorado/Wyoming thing on the Southern Front; once you were clear of the North American Cordillera, there just weren't enough narrow valleys to play that trick with. Not sure how much it got used in Canada.

In general, the Hog played a crucial role in gutting the Category A formations in 1985/86. Blasting a road march formation and leaving 20-plus blazing wrecks and hundreds of dead commie grunts, and then coming back after refuel and rearm to massacre the engineering vehicles trying to clear the road...that was doing the Lord's work.

[Bernard Woolley]

Not sure how much it got used in Canada.

It was quite common in the Northern Theatre, especially in the Rockies. On the Canadian Prairie low-level CAS worked well, until the Soviets deployed their more advanced GBAD. There just wasn't anywhere for fixed-wing, or attack helicopters to hide in a lot of places. A mate of mine who served in Canada mentioned that he saw a lot of aircraft go down, including Hogs, during the 2nd Battle of Vancouver. I have read a history of the RCAF that mentioned that they went through something like half of their A-10 fleet during the battle and subsequent operations.

If you've ever wondered why the RAF started hanging Hellfire missiles on their Jaguars, Harriers and Tornados, it was part of an effort to keep them out of range of most Soviet GBAD. The RCAF A-10s almost exclusivley using weapons like the AGM-65. They would only come in low to use CBU and their 30mm cannon in the most urgent of circumstances.

One other thing the RAF and RCAF learned, was that aircraft on CAS missions needed protecting from enemy fighter aircraft. CAS is a dicey business if your enemy has a strong air force.

Of course, we all remember the losses the Su-25s took when operating against our forces. But, that's for a different fact-file.