designed to provide air support for ground troops the a-10 wartog has become synonymous with destruction entering service in 1976 the hog was originally considered too ugly to fly but quickly became one of the most reliable versatile and deadly aircraft in the u. s air force today we're going to dive into the design and usage of the iconic american jet that is essentially a flying hunk of metal built around a massive machine gun [Music] after the surrender of japan and nazi germany in 1945 the united states had one of the most advanced air forces in the world the war had not only driven aircraft innovation and engineering but it had also introduced new frontiers that required the use of airplanes most combat aircraft in world war ii were designed for the role of bombers or fighters the heavy bombers would aim for buildings bridges runways and other large stationary targets while the quicker lighter fighters would generally defend the bombers from enemy aircraft a prime example of this is the battle of britain where for several months the war was entirely fought in the air other aircraft included torpedo bombers transport aircraft and reconnaissance planes but as the war progressed the axis and the allies both saw the need for a newer class of airplanes attack aircraft attack aircraft are generally designed to strike ground targets with higher precision than heavy high-flying bombers while simultaneously being equipped to engage with enemy aircraft if necessary these planes also known as fighter bombers sort of in between class were designed in various ways in every nation the germans for example took some light bombers and repurposed them into attack aircraft by equipping them with heavier front-facing cannons and bombs which were mainly used as dive bombers on allied tanks the americans and the british decided to create aircraft specifically for this role which proved useful in europe africa and even the pacific after the war planes and weapons improved but the role of attack aircraft remained relatively unchanged by the time the korean war broke out in 1950 planes began to be designed with jet engines pushing many propeller driven aircraft from world war ii out of use but despite the changing times one aircraft from the 1940s refused to leave the spotlight the a-1 skyraider this skyraider was an attack aircraft that became a crucial piece of the u. s air force in its fight against north korea in fact the only documented use of a torpedo in the korean war was a strike on a north korean dam by a group of skyraiders but as dependable as the skyraider was it began to reach the end of its lifespan by the time the vietnam war began mainly because it was slower than more recently developed jets and it had relatively weak armor meaning it was vulnerable to anti-air weapons set up by the viet cong the army believed that the plane's role also known as close air support could be taken over by their newly developed attack helicopters but after a complete review of the military's overall tactical abilities it was clear to the air force that retiring the skyraider was leaving a gap that needed to be filled with a newer modern attack plane in 1966 the chief of staff for the united states air force created the attack experimental program or ax for short whose purpose was to develop the new attack plane that would replace the skyraider 21 contractors were given the list of initial requirements which included high maneuverability and advanced armor plating but most importantly it was decided that the plane should be specifically designed around its front cannon which was being designed by general electric six companies submitted aircraft proposals but only two met the requirements by the air force in their desired budget northrop and fairchild republic in 1973 each company created a prototype known as the ya-9 and the ya-10 after testing the air force announced that it would be giving the contract to fairchild republic and after some redesigning and further testing the aircraft was renamed the a-10 thunderbolt 2 though the nickname wartog has stuck around some claim that this nickname was given due to the distinct sound it makes when firing as it's somewhat similar to the guttural growl of a wild hog but many other fair child republic aircraft had similar nicknames like super hog and ultrahog whatever the reason for the name for production of the wartogs began shortly after in 1976 and by 1984 715 of them had been completed and purchased by the air force [Music] the a-10 is powered by two large jet engines situated on either side of the fuselage in front of the tail these engines give the plane a maximum speed of 300 knots which in understandable units is about 350 miles per hour or 560 kilometers per hour this is quite slow compared to other modern jets but having high maneuverability at this speed gives the aircraft high accuracy when aiming at a moving ground target such as a tank something other aircraft have trouble doing when moving at twice that speed or faster it carries enough fuel in its four tanks to power the engines for nearly 800 miles or about 1 300 kilometers the wings are straight in design with a wingspan of 57 feet or 17 meters the wingspan is abnormally long almost as long as the entire length of the airplane which gives the craft not only its high mobility but also extra space to attach bombs and laser-guided missiles but missiles and bombs are only one part of the show on this beast the nose of the plane features the legendary gau-8 30 millimeter auto cannon also known simply as the avenger the avenger is one of the most powerful guns to ever be equipped on an airplane its seven rotating barrels fire depleted uranium rounds weighing 750 grams each for about a pound and a half which is specifically designed to penetrate tank armor the gun itself weighs about 620 pounds or 280 kilograms but the entire system including the magazine and the belt feeder when fully loaded weighs over 4 000 pounds or 1 800 kilograms and it's larger than your average car now if that isn't crazy enough it also fires at a rate of 3 900 rounds per minute that's 65 every second in a very distinct sound that draws fear into anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end although that fear doesn't last very long because then you'll be destroyed an important note on the gun is that it does take about a second to warm up to full speed so in the first second it only fires 50 shots the whole system can hold 1 350 rounds of ammunition meaning that at fully automatic fire a pilot could empty the entire gun in under 20 seconds with this in mind pilots generally fire conservatively in quick one to two second bursts while strafing targets the cannon is accurate enough to land 80 percent of its shots in a 40-foot circle 12 meters while cruising at an altitude of 4 000 feet about 1.
2 kilometers the cannon takes up so much space on the frame of the aircraft that the front piece of the landing gear is slightly offset to the right meaning that when turning down the runway a turn to the right is a little faster than a turn to the left it also has so much recoil when firing that prolonged shooting could actually kick the plane off target in addition to the avenger cannon the wartog has plenty of space on its wings for other weapons including agm-65 maverick missiles these missiles can be launched from the wings and guided manually onto their target or they can be given a trajectory to follow after deployment along with these missiles the a-10 has been known to carry hydra rocket pods and a variety of laser or gps guided bombs as well as air-to-air missiles for flying targets with weapons at its disposal it's understandable that this plane is a menace to enemy tanks and troops but this serves to make the a-10 a high priority target for the enemy this doesn't particularly worry the wartogs though because of course it was designed with this in mind for starters the entire cockpit is encased in a layer of titanium nicknamed the bathtub these titanium plates are essentially immune to small arms fire and heavily resistant to high caliber weapons and even explosive shells up to 23 millimeters due to their angled design minimizing the chances of a direct shot the wings are built with light armor and hexagonal structures for increased strength and the plane can even continue flying if one of the wings is blown in half it's also able to fly with only one functional engine and half of the tail and if the hydraulic flight controls are damaged the pilot can still switch to manual steering other than the cockpit in the wings the most vital parts of any aircraft to protect are the fuel tanks and the ammunition the warthog handles this by placing the four fuel tanks deep inside the aircraft safely behind the plane's armored skin fire resistant layer and the fire extinguishing systems in the event that somehow despite all of this defense a fuel line is severed a self-sealing system prevents leakage with an expanding foam and even if all four tanks are destroyed or unusable a backup system of two additional fuel tanks can provide enough power to fly 230 miles or 370 kilometers the ammunition is stored behind a layer of armor plating that is designed to deflect and detonate incoming explosives before they reach the magazine now this is all assuming that the a-10 is struck by enemy fire but this plane also aims to prevent being hit at all an integrated missile warning system warns the pilot of nearby projectiles working with this is an electronic countermeasure pod which identifies the source of the missile whether it be from the ground or the air and jams its communications rendering the missile ineffective if the missile locks on and doesn't require communication with its sender the a-10 can deploy flares that grab the missile's attention locking onto the a-10 in the first place is also difficult the exhaust from the engines runs directly onto the tail fins dispersing its already minimal heat signature and further masking the wartock from infrared detection along with all this defense the wartog was originally painted in adaptive camouflage lighter paint on the bottom of the aircraft helps it blend into the sky when seen from below while the paint on top which varies depending on the intended environment helps the plane blend into the ground when seen from above this type of camouflage also seen on marine life like sharks and whales makes it harder for the enemy to accurately determine the exact altitude and dive angle of the a-10 today the threat of enemy aircraft is minimal so the top paint is generally just a light grey so now that we've covered its unmatched weaponry and nearly impenetrable defenses let's take a look at its impressive operational history all around the world immediately after delivery and testing a10 warthogs were placed in u. s and u. s friendly air force bases around the world in countries like england south korea and germany but the first deployment of them in battle was in 1983 during the invasion of granada by a coalition of caribbean countries that asked the united states for support so did the war dog become the grim reaper in the sky and reign hell down upon their enemies well no in fact the a-10s didn't fire a single shot the marines that the a-10s were covering met no resistance on their pass through the island of caracao and the war was over before the a-10 had a chance to display its power and they'd have to wait eight more years for another chance in 1991 after the iraqi annexation of kuwait a coalition of 35 nations invaded the area to liberate the country sparking the gulf war this was the kind of combat the a-10 had been designed for and it showed the world what a lethal aircraft it was over 8 100 missions or sorties were flown by wartogs during which time they destroyed an estimated 900 iraqi tanks 1 200 artillery batteries and over 2 000 vehicles over kuwait the a-10 also achieved its first air-to-air kill when captain robert swain successfully destroyed an iraqi helicopter with the avenger cannon other than the main cannon the planes also showed their precision with a wide array of weapons throughout the war in fact 90 percent of the coalition's maverick missiles fired in war were launched from a-10s with such impressive results that the air force actually scrapped the idea of replacing them with modified f-16s by the end of the gulf war over a dozen a-10s have been damaged by anti-aircraft guns and crash landings and four were shot down by iraqi surface-to-air missiles warthogs were then deployed several more times throughout the 90s for various operations in 1994 artillery and rocket launchers were stolen from the bosnian government so several missions were flown to locate and destroy the weapons in august of that year two a-tens tracked one of the stolen anti-tank vehicles and destroyed it effortlessly with their main cannons leading to the return of the rest of the stolen equipment the following year a-10s bombed anti-aircraft guns and artillery as part of operation deliberate force in conjunction with nato against the army of republic of sterpski a few years later in 1999 an f-117 nighthawk stealth plane was shot down over kosovo and wartogs provided cover for the rescue helicopters who were able to locate and bring the downed pilot back to safety who had come dangerously close to capture by the yugoslavian police following the rescue mission wartogs ran several more successful bombing runs in the balkans before fighting ceased that summer the 21st century brought even more frontiers for the a-10 to show off its power tens of thousands of missions were flown in iraq and afghanistan throughout the 2000s as part of operations iraqi freedom and anaconda and others declassified documents show that over 300 000 rounds were fired from avenger cannons during the first campaigns in iraq but they were also used to drop propaganda leaflets it was also during these campaigns in iraq that the armor and endurance of the war talks were proven on april the 7th 2003 major kim campbell was providing air support to ground troops when her a10 was struck by an enemy missile with a tail damaged hydraulic flight controls disabled and hundreds of holes in the sides of her plane she had to make a quick decision stay with the plane or eject switching her controls to manual steering she later recalled it was my last chance to try and recover the aircraft or i'd be riding a parachute into central baghdad incredibly major cable pilots at the craft for a full hour back to her base and landed safely on the runway lieutenant colonel mike millen later said i was impressed kim landed the jet with no hydraulics better than i land the a-10 every day with all systems operational with stories like that it's easy to see why the wartogs were so trusted by u.
