Friday, November 22, 2013

The A-10 Warthog Is Targeted For 'Retirement'

The A-10 Thunderbolt is more commonly known as the Warthog. It was developed in the 1970s and production stopped in the early '80s. Its slow speed allows it to train its powerful machine gun on ground targets faster planes would zip by. Credit Wikipedia Commons

Cold War-era 'Warthog' Targeted For Retirement -- Baltimore Sun

Md. Air Guard has flown A-10 ground-attack plane in Afghanistan and Iraq; Air Force favors multirole aircraft.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II, a snub-nosed ground-attack plane that the Maryland Air National Guard has flown in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the latest aircraft to find its way onto the Pentagon's endangered weapons list.

Outfitted with a seven-barrel Gatling gun the size of a Volkswagen Beetle in its nose, the Cold War-era plane has a reputation for tearing apart armored tanks and clearing the way for troops on the ground with its massive 30-millimeter rounds of ammunition.

Read more ....

Update: War Over the Warthogs -- Time

My Comment: The A-10 has its supporters in Congress .... but it looks like it's time is up.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

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