The Real Reason Why You Can't Kill the A-10 Warthog

[Music] [Applause] [Music] the real reason why you can't kill the a-10 known for an ability to keep flying after taking multiple rounds of enemy machine-gun fire land and operate in rugged terrain destroy groups of enemy fighters with the 30 millimeter cannon and unleash a wide arsenal of attack weapons the a-10 is described by pilots as a flying tank in the sky able to hover over ground war and provide life-saving close air support and high threat combat environments it's built to withstand more damage than any other frame that I know of it's known for its ruggedness a-10 pilot Lieutenant Colonel Ryan hadn't strategic plans officer eastern flank branch chief United States European Command the pilot of the a-10 is surrounded by multiple plates of titanium armor designed to enable the aircraft to withstand too small arms fire and keep flying its attack missions the a-10 is not agile nimble faster quick Hayden said it's deliberate measured hefty impactful calculated and sound there's nothing flimsy or fragile about the way it's constructed or about the way that it flies a 10 Thunderbolt 2 affectionately known as the Warthog has been in service since the late 1970s and served as close air support combat aircraft in conflicts such as the Gulf War Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Allied Force in Kosovo among others having flown combat missions of the a-10 Hayden explained how the aircraft is specifically designed to survive enemy ground attacks there are things built-in for redundancy if one hydraulic system fails another one kicks in he said if the aircraft loses all of its electronics including its digital displays and targeting systems the pilot of an a-10 can still fly drop general purpose bombs and shoot the 30 millimeter cannon Hayden explained so when I lose all the computers in the calculations the targeting pod in the heads-up display you can still point the aircraft using a degraded system at the target and shoot were actually trained for that he said unlike other air platforms built for speed maneuverability air-to-air dogfighting and air to air weapons the a-10 is specifically engineered around its gun a 30 millimeter cannon aligned directly beneath the fuselage the gun is also called a gau-8/a Gatling gun the 30 millimeter cannon has seven barrels they are centered the way in aircraft fires the firing barrel goes right down the centerline you can point the aircraft and shoot at the ground it's designed for air to ground attack Hayden said armed with eleven hundred and fifty rounds the thirty millimeter cannon is able to fire 70 rounds a second Hayden explained the gun alignment is being straight along the fuselage line without an upward can't like many other aircraft have although the windows in the a-10 are also wider to allow pilots a larger field of view with which to see and attack targets the engines of the a-10 are mounted high so that the aircraft can land in austere environments such as rugged dirty or sandy terrain Hayden said the engines on the a-10 are General Electric TF 34 G e100 turbofans these aerodynamic configurations and engine technology allow the a-10 to fly slower and lower in closer proximity to ground forces and enemy targets the wings are straight and broadened the engines are turbofan they were selected and designed for their efficiency not because of enormous thrust we have a very efficient engine that allows me to loiter with a much more efficient gas burn rate Hayden said close air support by virtue of being able to fly at slower speeds of 300 the a-10 can fly beneath the weather at altitudes of a hundred feet this gives pilots an ability to see enemy targets with the naked eye giving them the ability to drop bombs fire rockets and open fire with the 30 millimeter cannon in close proximity to friendly forces the a-10 uses both Lightning and sniper pods engineered with infrared and electro-optical sensors able to find targets for the pilot the aircraft uses the same targeting pod as the f-15e and f-16 however most of the fighters can't transition between the two targeting pods and we can based on our software Hayden said the a-10 carries a full complement of weapons to include joint direct attack munition x' or JDAM gps guided bombs its arsenal includes gbu-38 gbu 31 s gbu 54 s MK 82 s MK 8 ephors agm-65 maverick missiles aim-9 sidewinder missiles and rockets along with illumination flares jammer pods and other protective countermeasures the aircraft can carry 16,000 pounds of mixed ordnance eight can fly under the wings and three under fuselage pylon station Air Force statement said a 10 avionics technology pilots flying attack missions in the aircraft communicate with other aircraft and ground forces using radios and datalink known as link 16 pilots can also text message with other aircraft and across platforms Hayden added the cockpit is engineered with what is called the cast cockpit for common avionics architecture system which includes moving digital map displays and various screens showing pertinent information such as altitude elevation surrounding terrain and target data a10 pilots also wear a hi-tech helmet which enables them to look at targeting video on a helmet display I can project my targeting pod video into my eyes so I can see the field of view if something shoots at me I can target it simply by looking at it he explained the future of the a-10 [Music] following an announcement from Pentagon leaders that the HN will not begin retiring but rather will serve until at least 2020 to Air Force and Department of Defense officials are now hoping to keep a close air support aircraft for many years beyond the previously projected timeframe given the emerging global threat environment it would make sense that the Air Force would seek to preserve an aircraft such as the a-10 having the requisite funds to support this would be of great value to the Air Force a former Air Force chief of staff general mark Welsh told lawmakers that despite the prior plan the surface did not want to retire the a-10 prior plans to retire the fleet of a-10s were purely budget driven senior Air Force leaders have consistently said I don't want to retire it Welch told a congressional committee early in March of last year now the Air Force is keeping it Air Force leaders had previously said that the emerging multi-role f-35 would be able to pick up the close air support mission with its sensor technology 25 millimeter gun and maneuverability there's little question about whether the f-35 could succeed with these kinds of missions at the same time there's also consensus that the a-10 provides an extremely unique set of battlefield attributes which need to be preserved for decades with many lawmakers observers veterans analysts pilots and members of the military have been following the unfolding developments regarding the Air Force's plans for the a-10 citing budgetary reasons Air Force leaders had said they plan to begin retiring its fleet of eight NS as soon as this year some Air Force personnel maintained that other air assets such as the f-16 and emerging f-35 multi-role stealth fighter will be able to fill the mission gap and perform close air support missions once the a-10 retired now the Air Force has begun a three-pronged strategy to replace or sustain the a-10 which involves looking at ways to upgrade and preserve the existing aircraft assessing what platforms might be available on the market today or designing a new close air support airplane there have been many advocates for the a-10 among lawmakers who have publicly questioned the Pryor Air Force strategy to retire the aircraft although the continued existence of the a-10 is assured well into the next decade the debate about what if anything might be able to replace it is quite likely to continue [Music] [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: US Military News

Views: 2,407,219

Keywords: A-10, a-10 warthog, a 10 warthog gun, a 10 warthog action, a 10 warthog brrrt, a-10 warthog jet, a 10 warthog machine gun, a 10 warthog noise, a 10 warthog plane, a 10 warthog weapons, a-10 warthog brrrt, a 10 warthog youtube, A-10 Thunderbolt II, Fairchild Republic, a-10 thunderbolt, a-10 warthog firing, a-10 warthog sound

Id: CzqYvcBbXAU

Length: 10min 2sec (602 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 28 2019

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