And in that mess lies the ever-present chance that things aren't going to go exactly as planned. As such, A-10s often operate in concert with air superiority fighters like the legendary F-15 Eagle, who are responsible for engaging enemy fighters before they have a chance to square off with any slow-moving Warthogs.īut as famed writer and former F-14 Radar Intercept Officer Ward Carroll pointed out in our discussion about speed versus stealth in 21st-century dogfighting, big wars against developed nations get messy. In other words, the US plans its operations around leaning into the strengths of different platforms and avoiding their weaknesses. While we tend to think of combat aircraft in the individual sense, America leverages them as pieces of a broad combat strategy. Most operational A-10 pilots don't put much thought into dogfights. It simply wasn't built for it … but with America pivoting back toward great power competition and the A-10 slated to remain in service until the 2040s, this CAS champ is once again facing the possibility of having to square off with jets that were built specifically to hunt down and kill planes that can move a lot quicker than the Warthog does.Īn A-10C fires its cannon at a target during training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, February 23, 2016. Pilots from other aircraft can be even crueler, often kidding that the A-10 is so slow that it runs the constant risk of bird strikes … from behind.Įven the most modern A-10C, with updated cockpits and the ability to carry and leverage more munitions than ever, aren't particularly well suited for a fight with most fighters in service today. A-10 pilots often joke that it really only has three settings: off, taxiing, and max power. The result was a jet with practically unparalleled toughness, the ability to unleash 3,900 depleted uranium 30 mm rounds at a target per minute, and a turn radius that would make any modern fighter blush. Two General Electric TF34-GE-100A turbofans engines were mounted high on the fuselage to protect it from sucking in dirt and debris on austere airstrips near the fight, and internally, redundant hydraulic systems and a titanium armor "tub" shielded the pilot and control systems from small arms fire.
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