A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog". Love it, Or Leave It | Fairchild Republic's Attack Aircraft

officially known as the Thunderbolt II but  universally as the Warthog because of its looks   over the last 30 years this beast has  earned another name on the battlefield   The Tank Buster. we're not the high sleek  fast fire we're the low slow ugly you   know warthog rolling around in the mud and  doing the mission that's where we love to be   it's amazing 30 millimeter seven-barreled  cannon is the most powerful gun   ever to take to the skies you go in there  squeeze the trigger a bunch of smoke. Wow! that's awesome. it smells like victory. with a  single warthog carrying enough weaponry to disable   16 main battle tanks the A-10 is a legend to the  soldiers who depend on life-saving air support. you can talk to troops on the ground  and they love hearing that sound   it's the sound of freedom for them Okay yes when i saw the SAM it uh you know there  was it was a nice white smoke trail following it   and i couldn't miss it really with a little plume  where it had launched out of the of a revetment   you could see the rocket motor and you know it  wasn't moving in my canopy laterally you know   two-dimensional picture is just getting bigger  it ain't moving left or right which means it's   on a collision course. so what you want to do is  get it to move left or right preferably uh aft   so it'll miss behind and you want to see some  what they call line of sight relative motion   so I made that happen and sure enough the last  minute it went real line of sight real far to   the back and missed behind. so I went from being whoa  that scared the living daylights out of me to go   to losing my professionalism somewhat and  get really pissed off at this guy for scaring me   and uh so uh he was gonna die for doing that  because you know where that SAM launch came from   there was no mistaking where it had come from. my  flight lead rolls in he uh put some 30 millimeter   down on it no secondary so that means nothing  blows up so I'm not sure if we hit it I'm about   ready to roll in you know now we should have left  at this point . We're almost out of gas.  In fact we would have left it if i haven't been launched on by a SAM. We made guys pay for shooting at us Throughout operation Iraqi freedom the A-10  Warthog was the most well-known and feared   plane in the U.S anthems. I think it was the  best equipped air force and army rated fight   that we could have. its ability to work  in close support with ground troops   to take out enemy positions and tanks and to  act as a spotter plane made it a linchpin and   a victory over Saddam Hussein and his regime. we're  kind of like the insurance guy up there or the 911   when they need help they call and  that's who they expect to be there   but for the vision of a handful of men  this aircraft might never have been built in the first World War aircraft were used as a way  of supporting the troops on the ground whatever   resistance they came up against the planes were  called in to either bomb or strafe the enemy close support in cases of mobile warfare of  moving fronts a fast moving combat whether it   was a retreat or advance close support  was overwhelmingly important. In those   situations of battlefield chaos where  it's very hard to get good artillery   support, suddenly airplanes become overwhelmingly  important and overwhelmingly effective.   During the Second World War such fighter  bombers as the Typhoon, The Tempest, The   Mustang and The Thunderbolt one were used in  close air support roles to good effect.   but one single aircraft was feared as  the ultimate close air support machine   the German Juncker's 87 dive  bomber nicknamed The Stuka   and fitted with a screaming siren demonstrated the  most effective use of close air support ever seen this was a time when the Germans were enormously  outnumbered by the Russians and yet having   extraordinary successes against  very heavy huge Russian tank forces   and a key component of that  were these Stukas of which the   most famous unit was led by Colonel Rudel who  was the most decorated pilot of World War II. Colonel Hans Ulrich Rudel's unit  wreaked havoc on the Russian front   with Rudel himself amassing a personal  score of 511 destroyed Russian tanks but with the defeat of Germany in 1945 the success  of close air support was largely overlooked On September the 18th 1947 the  United States air force was born   its main focus to deliver nuclear weapons close air support was not a priority. This is  the extraordinary part of the whole genesis   of the A-10 the air force traditionally from the  beginnings of world war II on had no interest in   close support. Have none today. They don't like  working for the army. They prefer running   their own war totally independent of everybody  else a very natural bureaucratic reaction during the Vietnam war the air force had to rely   on aircraft such as the A-1 Skyraider  to protect its ground forces.  But what was clearly needed was an aircraft  specifically designed to carry large bomb loads,   absorb heavy ground fire, and fly for long  periods at low altitude over the battleground. taking the initiative a group of highly  skilled engineers at the pentagon   came up with the specifications  for a close air support aircraft.   with the hope that the air force  would eventually see the light   we designed the airplane based on the close  support done by these A-1 pilots we used the   experience of the Germans on the Russian front  with Stukas and we actually interviewed Colonel   Rudel who was still alive at the time. We used  his experience very heavily in the design of   the airplane we tried to shape an airplane that  was directly useful in specifically support of   army troops in the field. At first in aviation  history the air force eventually initiated a   competition for an aircraft to be specifically  designed for close air support when the request   for the proposal on the A-10 came in I immediately  was assigned to work on the aerodynamics of that fundamentally she was to be a close air  support airplane which was capable of   knocking out heavy tanks as well as operating  from an unprepared short field of 1500 feet Fairchild Republic took on the challenge of  designing an aircraft unlike any ever built the winning design would be a  stable straight winged aircraft   to allow for excellent lift and maneuverability combined with the General  electric's TF34 turbofan engines   which would give it a high enough thrust for  takeoff and a low enough fuel consumption   to enable the plane to have very high  loiter capability essential for the role with unbeatable durability and an easy to repair   maintenance program. these would be the ideal  engines to fly in a hostile battle zone but for the Fairchild team the  challenges became apparent immediately   The typical way to build a jet airplane and  the reason that all jet fighters are impossible   to use in this close support mission because  they all have fuel wrapped around the engine   once you have fuel wrapped around  an engine a 22 rifle will kill you   one of our very first design rules was the  fuel had to be someplace other than the engine not only was the fuel safely stored  in the fuselage away from the engines   the fuel tanks also had unique  inbuilt fire suppression capabilities the aircraft's hydraulics could also  withstand serious firepower    we required that every hydraulic control had to  be backed up by a simple mechanical cable system   that's much harder to shoot out if we could  come back with the hydraulic system shot out   half the tail shot off a piece of the wing shot  off had two engines you could come home on one the pilot was bathed in a titanium tub  which could take 20 millimeter shells it was   really a piece of machinery that  you could fly into hell and back the A-10 survivability was matched with a  deadly capacity a huge 30 millimeter Gatling gun   developed specifically for the A-10 the  GAU-8 Avenger capable of firing almost   4 000 rounds a minute gave the aircraft the  ability to blow through tank armor she was designed primarily  with a Gatling gun in the nose   and it was built to destroy anything that was  considered an armored weapon on the ground but she was built around the gun  and the gun was a given from day one Fairchild Republic won the competition to build  the first aircraft in U.S aviation history   specifically designed for close air support but  before the air force would give the go-ahead they   wanted hard evidence that the aircraft and  the gun could perform outstandingly together   the need would spark a series of  simulation tests unlike any ever produced little would its designers realize these tests  would change the face of aviation history Fairchild Republic had produced the ultimate   piece of machinery to perform  the role of close air support but the Air Force was reluctant to go  into production until they had seen   for themselves that the aircraft could  fulfill its very specific combat role in a series of amazing tests the A-10  and its remarkable gun were put through   their paces in an effort to create  a full-on cold war battle scenario we had secretly assembled what we proudly boasted  at the time was like the third or fourth largest   tank army in the world over 300 Soviet tanks from  all over the world off junk heaps and whatever   out in the desert outside Las Vegas so we  ran a program with A-10s with a gun installed   and with the current ammunition  as it was going into production she had a very strange sound to those engines   very characteristic and to this day every time  I hear it I look up. because I know it's my bird we knew what she'd do and she didn't disappoint us and we did a meticulous series of tests attack  after attack checking tactics checking burst   lengths all these details to see how effective we  were against tanks we learned an enormous amount   about it the most important thing we learned was  that this weapon had unprecedented effectiveness during the cold war the threat of Soviet tanks   advancing on Western Europe was  at times a very real possibility the Air Force finally gave the  production of the A-10 the go-ahead   it was now ready to face a specific enemy  with its highly accurate weapons delivery   platform it was the ideal machine  to defend against Soviet armored supremacy. The first A-10 arrived at Davis  Monson Air Force base Arizona in October 1975. Immediately christened the Warthog the A-10  was admired for its simplicity and ruggedness   rather than its good looks it's kind of an  ugly only a mother could love is probably   the way most of us describe it it's uh it's  it's that ugliness is what makes it so tough it's very rugged people can compare it to like  a jeep or a hummer or something like that it's   thick it's big everything about it is is boxy  and it looks very strong and sturdy it's almost   guaranteed to bring the pilot back alive but with  a top speed of only 420 miles per hour high set   twin engines and squared off slab-like wings  the A-10 was a far cry from any streamlined jet   it's pretty awe-inspiring it was so much bigger  than the aircraft i'd flown in pilot training   just it felt huge and it felt big getting into it  and it was also intimidating just because first   time you fly the airplane you're by yourself but  it was definitely exhilarating at the same time the single seat cockpit is  surrounded by a large bubble canopy   to provide all-round vision  and a bulletproof windscreen   I love single-seat cockpit that's one of the  reasons that I was uh enticed by the A-10 no one   looking over your shoulder no one telling you what  to do you put the aircraft where you want to do   it you employ it in the fashion that you want to  employ it it's all personal and you are the master I think the first time that was one of the things  that surprised me it took itself right off the   runway for the most part once it hits the  speed it wants to fly it just lifts up in a way and I think it probably has to do  a lot with the big straight wing   positive camber on the wing it wants to fly the plane reacts to you it's like you  kind of strap on the plane itself and   it's an extension of you and it flies  it has a feel of real stick and rudder the A-10 is known for its tight  turn radius so it can turn on a dime   you can even look at the ground as you're turning  and it looks like you're just turning in space straight wing lets us turn very very tight so  even though we're going slow we've got a very   small turn radius and we can very quickly move our  flight path uh so that we can dodge all those uh   the triple AAA and the surface-to-air missiles. but it's  the challenge of the unique close air support role   that is the main attraction to A-10 pilots flying  in an environment where anything could happen at   any time. The mission that we do is not a rote  mission you don't come into it knowing exactly   every single thing that's going to happen  from the time you take off the time you land   once you get in the air is where it starts  actually unfolding and you have to react to that you hear american voices on the radio screaming  because they're taking fire and that there   are people dying their artillery can't get  the enemy they call in the A-10s  flying of the airplane has to become secondary  now you're trying to employ the weapon system   and that's where it gets complicated  we get maps spread out in the cockpit   and we're still trying to talk on the  radios and keep from getting shot at you know we consider ourselves the  last gunfighter that's really out there   because when you go into  battle and it's a close-in   CAS fight the number one weapon of choice  of an A-10 pilot is going to be their gun the weapons delivery system incorporates  a heads up display or HUD that provides   the pilot with the references for  flight control and weapons employment it's incredibly accurate for a gun system and uh  probably one of the most flexible weapon systems   in the world. it's just point and shoot just like  you would imagine a revolver in your hand you   point it where you want to shoot it you pull the  trigger and that's where the bolts are going to go when you roll in and you pull the trigger  for the first time you get excited and the   adrenaline starts pumping through and it  just... I had the biggest smile on my face   what a feeling shooting the gun i mean the  whole airplane shakes the first time I   fired the gun you know i had to come off the  trigger because it scared me because I couldn't   believe something like that could come out of the  front of the airplane. All the flames the smoke   this 30 millimeter bullet is the size of  my forearm and that smell of gunpowder   you get that in the cockpit after you  fire the gun and it's just incredible   you get a little bit of a high from  it I think sometimes it smells like   victory but it would be some time before  the pilots would be using their gun in anger   with the ending of the cold war the mass tank  fleets of the Warsaw pact no longer seemed   such a threat and the U.S air force planned to  withdraw the A-10 fleet from service by the 1990s but with a serious situation brewing in the Middle  East all that was about to change the Warthog was   about to play a key role in bringing down one of  the most destructive individuals of recent times   In September 1980 Iraq invaded Iran   beginning one of the longest and most  destructive wars of the 20th century after eight years the basic issues dividing the  countries remained unresolved in an effort to   contain the Ayatollah Khomeini and the spread  of Islamic fundamentalism the West backed Iraq Saddam Hussein the Iraqi dictator began  to build up a formidable war machine   bolstered by the Soviets and the West creating the fourth largest army  in the world with over 4 000 tanks on August the 2nd 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait  for 15 years the A-10 had awaited the chance   to justify its place in the Air Force inventory  for the Warthog it was now make or break time   when the first Gulf War started and  our squadron deployed down there   approaching that time period the Air Force  was considering getting rid of the airplane   it wasn't until the Gulf War came around we proved  the fact that we are a capable CAS platform when war broke out on the 16th of January 1991   there was an urgent need for a  missile launching tank buster the A-10s were committed to combat for the very  first time back then you know we had nobody with   combat experience except for a few of the very  senior leadership that had flown in Vietnam   so a lot of people weren't sure what to expect  deployed to the Gulf to back up coalition ground   forces A-10 squadrons were launched on Iraq's  thousands of tanks in the mother of all battles first day i'll never forget that  feeling it was like wow this is the   big game you know you're all pumped up  adrenaline's flowing you know let's go you know you go in we hit a target and I  remember looking down and going what's all that   glittery stuff down there sure  enough it was you know them shooting   whoa we're shooting at us that's when it kind of  hit you you know this isn't just training anymore the way that I saw the Iraqis working is if they  knew we were going to hit something they moved it   and they played lots of shell games and it's  kind of like a you know where they hide it now by February the coalition Air Forces  appeared to be dominating the skies   and the A-10 was seemingly invincible and we're  feeling pretty confident you know if you survive   your first 10 combat missions your chances of  surviving the war pretty go up significantly   Major Rob Sweet was on his  30th mission for Desert Storm   on the 15th of February he was the wingman in a  two-ship mission launched deep into Iraqi airspace   it was a little far into bad guy land for an A-10  it was about 100 miles past the border where good   guys were and my flight lead he was obviously  a lot more experienced and wiser than i was was   a little concerned about the mission with the  Iraqis ammunition running low Saddam's forces   were being more selective about their targets  and seeking to maintain a higher strike rate so we said all right well we won't hang out as  much and target we'll take two three passes then   we'll leave go somewhere else there's a formation  of tanks in a circle about three miles in diameter   no craters anywhere and we were kind of aware  that maybe these reply with dummy targets   Sweet's flight leader rolled in to take a closer  look at the target and then cleared his wingman   in for Sweet what began as a routine mission  was about to turn into his worst nightmare   as I'm coming off sure enough comes a SAM well whoa, that  ain't good but if you see it you can beat it   so I saw it put out some **** fire I kind of  pulled around it and uh and it missed sure enough   but a guy who was close in fact that was as close  as I'd ever been coming to getting hit by anything   so I went from being whoa that scared  the living daylights out of me to   losing my professionalism somewhat and getting  really pissed off at this guy for scaring me   so uh he was going to die for for doing it. as  I was rolling in I mean I felt about a bang about the   airplane and went uh ooh that isn't good and I  looked back and I didn't like what I saw   most of my right wing was gone it was on fire I was  thinking to myself okay bad hit bad hit but there's   still some wing on there and I should be able  to fly it out of there the A-10 is pretty rugged   the Iraqi missile which would have destroyed  most other fighters seriously crippled the A-10   the plane enters a steep spin slash  spiral starts spiraling on down   I'm throwing switches trying to recover i'm  yelling agh yeah I can't recover and   then I start to panic and I remember just  seeing a desert getting coming up like this I don't get out. the Aces II ejection seat  is a fully automatic catapult rocket system   once ejected the parachute automatically deploys   I'm coming down in my parachute and i see my tent  hit the ground and that was kind of disturbing as Wweet hit the ground he was seized by  Iraqi soldiers you know they were   on me before I even had a chance  to roll over and then they   it was their chance to get some payback  and so I got the crap beat on me basically taken away to a command bunker he was interrogated I thought I was going to get shot at  any moment you know it took me about   three days to figure out hey they  weren't going to just arbitrarily   execute me. I was worth something to them  propaganda or intelligence or something In March major Rob Sweet was eventually  released as part of the prisoner release program this is what I found out what happened to  my flight lead. after i had been shot down   my flight lead had been shot down  and it turns out he never got out    lucky to be alive he spent four months recovering  from his ordeal. If I would have been flying any   other fighter when I was hit by the SAM and  it was a bad head I'd be I'd be dead right now but despite this the aircraft  proved more versatile and better   able to survive over enemy territory than  anyone had expected    during the 40-day conflict the A-10 force  destroyed 987 tanks 926 artillery pieces    1 355 combat vehicles, 10 fighters on the ground  and two helicopters shot in air-to-air engagements   the Air Force's ugly duckling earned  a new nickname the Tank buster the result confounded all those who  had questioned the need for a dedicated   ground support aircraft flying a staggering  8500 sorties A-10s were responsible for more   than half of Iraq's losses of military  equipment in operation Desert Storm Tragically this remarkable record was marred by   a number of incidents in which coalition  forces were mistakenly attacked by A-10s now there was an incident  yesterday in which an american A-10   inadvertently fired on two of  our infantry fighting vehicles   the aircraft was one of several which had  been called into deal with an enemy position   and the incident itself is of course under  investigation nine British soldiers were killed the Air force was adamant that it could eliminate  friendly fire incidents what nobody knew was that   the next challenge for the A-10 would be in  an entirely new and forbidding battlefield   Afghanistan. The A-10  had proved itself a success in Desert Storm   but for this aging aircraft to remain  integral to the air force attack plan   it would have to meet the constraints  of an ever-changing battlefield   the A-10 got quite a few upgrades no new  engines or anything like that more avionics   upgrades we were able to incorporate systems  that didn't come online the global positioning   satellite systems the A-10 was the first fighter  to fully integrate with the night vision devices   the whole cockpit is is modified to use night  vision goggles we've been training with them   longer than pretty much any other fighter  community and we've gotten very good at it the A-10 was destined for a new mission on  September the 11th the war against terrorism began   our response involves far more than instant  retaliation and isolated strikes Americans   should not expect one battle but a lengthy  campaign unlike any other we have ever seen The Warthog strengthened  operation Enduring Freedom   by spearheading urgently needed around the  clock cover for ground troops in Afghanistan   for the crews of the A-10s it was  like nothing they had ever seen   we arrived in Bagram reported to my commander and  I said boss this has got to be the scariest place   on earth you really felt like you were in the  middle of a combat zone and we were.    The A-10 was the ideal aircraft for the Afghanistan  battlefield the jet is versatile enough to   navigate mountainous peaks and deep valleys while  also patrolling and pinpoint attacking its targets   iIt wasn't bad flying over the mountainous terrain. The bad part was if I ever had to get out of the   airplane there's a lot of snow down there that's  not a good place to be going from a nice warm   cockpit down into the snow is not an idea that  I want to have to fulfill. The airplane higher   altitudes and where we normally would fly just  because of the heights of the mountains over there   we were able to go places that the other fixed  wing assets may or may not have been able to   get in very well and we definitely went places  that the helicopters couldn't get in    around the clock Warthog supported  regular and special forces soldiers   while combing the mountains of Afghanistan  for enemy rocket launch sites and mortar posts as its pilots soon realized every  mission would test their training   and their wills to the limit. we showed up just  past dark and got a brief was handed a set of   maps and was told hey there's a lot of ground guys  who are in trouble. go out there and do what you do   didn't have a whole lot of situational  awareness on what was going on in the ground so   and when we checked in the radios were just going  crazy with guys calling for uh close air support your pulse rate goes up the uh intensity  of what you're thinking about goes up   you know the adrenaline rush  it's a good feeling though   and what's nice is you turn your airplane  towards the fight and your training takes over so first thing we're looking for is what's the  overall situation on the ground and get a big   picture view and then move into the area once  we get into the area have a pretty good idea of   where everybody should be now we'll move from the  big picture to the much smaller concentrated area   one of the first things I'm going to try to do is  look look down and try to find where the friendly   position is and if I can't identify him exactly I  want to at least narrow down something that I can   use as a line in the sand and say okay we can't  drop past here because that's where our guys are   on entering the battle zone one of  the A-10 pilot's main responsibilities   is to avoid friendly fire incidents at all costs  what we mainly have to help us avoid Fratricide   is our radios and our eyes very low tech but  i think that's what makes us more efficient   yes we have a global positioning system  that helps us figure out where we are   and we have night vision goggles and find out  what's down there but when it comes time to   find out where the target is yeah we got to use  old-fashioned mark one eyeballs and our   hands to think about where that is because  without that we couldn't do our mission   we went in there the night vision goggles  were really hard to use because the sun was   had set but it wasn't low enough where we were  getting a lot of brightness coming from the West   so it was really difficult to use the  nvgs there was no moon illumination   and we're in this very harsh  terrain that I've never seen before a team of observers down on the battlefield work   with each pilot to guide  the aircraft to its target the terminal attack controller  or e-tac works for the army   and is responsible for ensuring that the A-10  pilot identifies and attacks the correct target   while minimizing the risk  to friendly ground forces we pass them a situational update area  update on what's going on in the battlefield   uh let them know where the friendly troops  are or what the situation is of the enemy   and uh they kind of give them a heads up of  what the threats are in the area we'll pass   up all that information now they'll copy it down  and they work their little magic in the cockpit the A-10 is linked to the ground  commanders by an army radio network   which distributes data throughout the battlefield he said hey here's where we are and  uh i need you to put some ordnance   down 700 meters from us which that was eye-opening and uh so we took that distance and rolled in and   put a couple 500 pounds bombs down and  it immediately quieted the target area it's kind of like a large dragon breathing fire   that's what I could see you  know it sounds really loud like a dinosaur really raining  lead from the sky   like guardian angels the A-10s  continue to fly over Afghanistan   protecting their friends on the ground  until the war against terrorism ends. but an old enemy was waiting in the wings  states like these and their terrorist allies   constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten  the peace of the world. The need for the A-10   would reach its climax in march 2003. Saddam  Hussein's horrific regime was reaching fever pitch   this time it would take an army with the  A-10 in the front line to bring him down. March 2003 Saddam Hussein's forces were about  to come head to head with the A-10 tank buster   as it once again prepared to fly  over the battlefields of Iraq the coalition forces meant to end the regime of  Saddam Hussein for good and the Warthog had come a   long way since its last desert battle by the time  the second Gulf War the Iraqi freedom comes along   pretty much every airplane had been  modified to improve the weapons accuracy the AGM-65 maverick missiles are highly  accurate carrying warheads specifically for   targeting heavy armor infrared imaging guidance  enables them to shoot moving targets at night   combine these with the already large weapons  load and the special laser targeting pods   and the Warthog was better prepared  than ever for its deadly role in Iraq flying from the sea's Talil Air base in southern  Iraq A-10s flew numerous sorties as coalition   forces launched one of the greatest military  offensives since the Second World War the assault   on Baghdad for the A-10 cruise it would be the  challenge of a lifetime we're flying up towards   Baghdad we're excited to go up there put the hair  on the back of our necks was standing up and your   heart was beating really fast I actually said a  lot more prayers stepping in the cockpit that day there's all those different emotions running  through your mind and you're saying please   you know let me do what i'm trying  to do and do the right thing calling the Warthogs to their targets another  essential member of the ground command team   the forward air controller or FAC. A-10 pilots  take turns to carry out this job using their   specialist knowledge of the mission in the air to  coordinate with the soldiers on the ground we go to a battalion and we speak Air Force  to the army we make sure the no Fratricide   occurs uh Air force doesn't shoot the Army. The Army  doesn't shoot the Air Force. Keep them deconflicted   but then secondary to that is make sure that  those A-10s affect the battlefield for the Army   Everyone's talking just trying to get permission  uh to actually execute the attack and those sound   like simple questions and this sounds like you  know pick up phone ask but when you're asking   one airplane who's relaying to another guy who's  probably uh you know four or five hundred miles   away sitting in a room somewhere it takes time  and oh by the way every aggressive fighter pilot   in Iraq at this point is making the same phone  call trying to get permission (radio chatter)   The FAC is the A-10 pilot's first point  of contact on arrival in the area. Part of   his role is to provide the pilot with the target  coordinates which he does with great efficiency it   sounds cold-hearted it's very systematic you know  they tell us the targets we find the targets we   kill and we report it's killed next target and it  just goes next target next target. On arrival over   the battlefield the A-10 pilot often uses basic  technology to locate exactly where the target is in pilot Eric Yaimorza's case an Iraqi missile  site i went down with the binoculars and was   searching the target coordinates the six missile  launchers weren't where they were supposed to be   so it took me a little while to search the area  the Iraqis had moved them probably about a half   a mile to a mile away you know i'm thinking to  myself okay i don't know if that radar operator   sees me with that missile and but I see the  target next to it and it was just an awesome   feeling your focus then all of a sudden is into  this one little area is what you're looking at   as you roll down pilots called to shoot or when  you roll in to employ that's it the whole world   melts into this this little area. And I was able  to lock this thing up and fire that missile and   it came screaming off the rail. from over 17  thousand feet the long range 300 pound launch   and leave maverick missile travelled to its target  for yahi mauitz the seconds seemed to go on forever I'm waiting and Im thinking oh man the missile  went stupid you know it went flying into Iran it   should have hit by now and uh I'm like oh man  I'm in trouble it just felt like an eternity it is surreal you're so far up it's hard to hear  anything on the ground you're so used to hearing   the jet it's like the white noise of having a  fan in the background but then all   of a sudden boom I mean it's a massive explosion  and it was totally elation. now I know I got him. you pull off get a little more  altitude and then turn back   and take a look and it's  a little fire show for you It's just so professional it's unbelievable.  there's not a lot of hooting and hollering and   you know it's not like top gun people screaming  I mean it's it's war and people are dying   and everyone knows it you know we're  sitting on the edge of our seats   concentrating that we don't get shot down for  once and then that we don't hurt the wrong people   going in there I said i have two objectives  one zero Fratricide. two affect the   battlefield and they were in that order . my number one goal was to prevent Fratricide    knowing where the friendly forces are is  paramount if the A-10s are to protect them   and losing sight of troops on the ground  can lead to mistakes or deadly friendly fire as a fighter pilot that's our first job  to find out is there anyone out here   that we don't know about you know it comes  down to a fight with friendlies nearby   weapons release is going to be  authorized by the guy on the ground   so you have to have that warm fuzzy  that you've got the complete picture   that you know these are friendly troops those are  enemy troops but even with all the advantages of   modern technology relying on this alone would  seriously jeopardize the troops on the ground   yes there are technological ways there are  also old school ways giving a good talk on   making sure you're confirming with that  aircraft that he really does see the friendlies there's a thousand ways to make sure that he's  looking at the right thing and you're out you   all are on the same page of music and i used  every single one of them because I'd rather drop   zero bombs and have zero Fratricide  than drop a thousand bombs and have   one be on a friendly position despite the  fear of horrific friendly fire accidents   the feeling of flying the plane is the love of  every hog driver and the reason for signing up   it's no race car you know it's not the porsche you  know it's it's not even a pickup truck in such a   neat neat airplane because I feel like I'm flying  with the seat of my pants I can feel everything   that's happening to the airplane none of it's  magic it's all me whatever it does I made it dude The 60 warthogs deployed for  Iraqi freedom dominated the skies   firing an incredible 311 597  rounds of 30 millimeter ammunition   The flying gun performed superbly we lost a few  folks in the first Gulf War we didn't lose any   in the second lost airplanes but we didn't lose  people that's a testament to the aircraft itself if I had to to be in an airplane and be shot  at the A-10 is the only one I want to be in   the A-10 is an awesome airframe and the fact that  it works with you and it feels like it's a part   of you and it's it's one of the only airframes  left that it's true flying you can feel it fly the A-10 means close air support at its finest   it's been my home now for eight years and I  love it and I hope I get to stick with it I hope   we get the upgrades we want to take us into this  next century and keep supporting the army but i   think it's just an awesome weapons platform it  fills a specific niche and it does it really well Able to keep flying with battle damage  that would many other designs   and lethal to any armored vehicle in  service the humble warthog of the 1970s   has come to rule supreme over the  digital battlefields of the 21st century   due to remain in service until at least 2025  the A-10 warthog has proven itself to be one of   the most effective aircraft ever flown by the us  air force and a legend to those involved with it   she is not very clean when it comes to  protuberances and bumps and so she's   not the sleekest looking piece of machinery  that I ever designed but she got the job done

Channel: DroneScapes

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Id: _xmW41i2jjI

Length: 46min 41sec (2801 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 23 2022