The A-10C Thunderbolt II

"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
01/24/2014 at 22:47 • Filed to: Planeopnik

This image comes courtesy of Airliners.net. In deference to them and their hotlinking/copyright policy, I have refrained from posting the image here on OppoLock and instead will simply link it !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . That said, it really is worth a look as it's an amazing photo.

The A-10A Thunderbolt II was developed to counter the massive numerical advantage of Soviet armor during the Cold War, particularly in the so-called "Fulda Gap" area of Germany where most NATO military planners assumed huge armor battles would just about automatically occur. Unusual of small tactical warplanes of its era, it forgoes swept wings and buried engines in favor of an appearance that almost looks pulled from a WWII-bound time machine (an appearance that lends to its nickname, the "Warthog" - incidentally, the name "Thunderbolt II" also honors the WWII P-47, a very excellent high-altitude fighter but also one of the world's first airborne tank killers). The straight "Hersey Bar" wing not only means great low-altitude handling (as pilots who fly Piper Cherokees can tell you) but is also an efficient planform for carrying tons and tons of expendable armaments (i.e. tank-killing missiles). Likewise, the engine arrangement is optimally efficient for its subsonic, high-bypass turbofan engines but also allows the wing to essentially shield them from both infrared detection and direct fire. The most imposing feature, however, is the GAU-8 Avenger 30mm cannon. Packing more kinetic energy than many weapon systems with a larger bore diameter, the Avenger is, contrary to popular belief, not actually intended to penetrate a tank's armor directly but rather to attack a tank's top armor, which traditionally is where the tank's thinnest armor is located. The reason why this tends to be is because few weapons systems are actually capable of a direct top attack against tanks.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II is one of those few weapons systems.

The A-10C adds the typical goodies found on contemporary fighters: computer systems that allow for improved targeting, LINK-16 compatibility (i.e., it can "talk" with Allied assets including satellites) and other "techie" upgrades. What's arguably most significant, however, is a change that isn't beneath the skin as so much as it is the skin: an extensive re-manufacturing process that adds life back into the airframe. Despite the host of survivability and durability improvements, the A-10C is potentially threatened by funding cuts in the face of Pentagon budgetary sequestration.

DISCUSSION (9)

TheKingOfBirds > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/24/2014 at 22:55

I grew up near a big armor/anti-armor Army base and you'd see these things quite often. These and the Cobras would just give me the chills—born to kill. I was always glad they weren't looking for me.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/24/2014 at 22:58

I'm pretty goddamn sure that that's not an airliner.

ttyymmnn > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
01/24/2014 at 23:05

Airliners.net features airliners, yes, but there are also plenty of photographs of helicopters, military aircraft, balloons, pretty much anything that will take a person up in the air.

M54B30 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/24/2014 at 23:11

My brother-in-law is a crew chief on these. Sweet planes, nothing else like them. Shame they're being phased out of the AF and into guard units.

The Transporter > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/24/2014 at 23:32

The 'Hog is "teh secks," as the kids like to say.

leicester > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/24/2014 at 23:53

Dude, so I got this gun, and I want to mount an airplane on it.

Don't you mean mount the gun on the airplane?

Nope, I meant for we build the plane around the gun....

Kinja'd!!!

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/25/2014 at 07:39

Thanks to xkcd, I keep being reminded of this:

Kinja'd!!!

prisoners > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/25/2014 at 12:02

I was stationed at a Naval Air Station that also served as a stop for USAF planes to refuel/rest etc. One day an A-10 flew in while I was stretched out in a lounge chair. I never heard it, and if I hadn't looked up I might not have ever noticed it because it was so quiet. It occured to me that probably no one who fell victim to that massive gun ever even knew it was there. The contrast with a Harrier is remarkable: that plane was deafening long before you could even see it.

Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French > prisoners
01/26/2014 at 13:10

And with the 30mm rounds being supersonic, you get no warning at all. The sound of rounds impacting is heard before you hear the firing.