Again on the arid landscapes of the Middle East. First it was in Iraq, and now it is in Iran. The A10 Thunderbolt is activated again in the war, the same aircraft that established itself in the United States as the main air unit of precision attack against vehicles and ground facilities. The Pentagon Central Command, or USCENTCOMwho directs the forces currently operating in the Middle East, confirmed this Sunday the participation of the famous “tank killer” in Operation Epic Fury with which, together with Israel, they are bombing Iran.
Warthogor wild boar, was the nickname the A10 received at the beginning of its modern operational life, when Northrop Grumman bought the New York company Fairchild-Republic, which invented it. But in the Iraq war, his devastating -and tragic- blows to the armored columns of the Republican Guardthe backbone of the army Saddam Hussein in Iraq, incinerated vehicles and men on the roads and dunes in the second Gulf War (2003), earned him a more popular and informal nickname among North American troops: “Thank Killer”, or tank killer.
The plane has a weapon feared by tankers. Is a cannon, the GAU-8which the North American arms industry calls “Avenger.” In circular flight over its prey, this weapon is capable of firing up to 3,900 projectiles per minute, bullets with depleted uranium head that pierces the steel of armored vehicles. The prominence of this weapon is such that specialists often ironically say that the A10 is not an airplane, but “a cannon with wings.”
But it’s something more than that. To attack with such proximity, the plane needs to fly low and slowly. That would be a definition of the total risk for the pilot and his aircraft if they had not even reinforced the cabin of the aircraft with titanium sheets.
Goals
USCENTCOM has explained that the current version of the A10 Thunderbolt can “wait in the air for hours” hovering before entering the area of operations when a target is detected. To do this, it receives fuel from “tanker” or tanker planes, such as those that Spain has not allowed to operate from the Morón and Rota bases.
With the tank killer, the US Air Force sharpens its blows. The first phase of this war, which began on February 28, was the time of the strategic bombers, the invisible B-2 and the giant B-52, with the mission of destroying Iran’s anti-aircraft defenses and its fighter and ballistic missile bases, to gain superiority in the air. Now that Iran cannot defend itself from air-to-ground attacks, the A-10 comes in to hunt smaller targets.
Various Western experts have pointed out what they are: it is not just about pursuing the tanks and lighter armor of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard; They are also looking for bunkers, minor barracks, convoys… and three essential targets in the fight to clear threats in the Strait of Hormuznow blocked by Iran: the mobile missile launchers, attack boats of the Iranian navy and the facilities of release of mines maritime. For these objectives, the plane carries another type of destructive tool: guided bombs GBU and the missiles Maverick.
In World War II, German Stuka They rushed towards their trophies with a typical ululation. At this time, the characteristic hum of the A-10 It has been the disturbing prelude not only to the destruction of the Iraqi army, but also of the Islamic State militias in Iraq, Syria and areas bordering Iran. It is the sound that precedes an infernal rain of bullets and smart bombs.
Only in a phase that until now has been little talked about, that of ground invasion, would the A-10 intensify its CAS mission. This is what close air support is called in North American military jargon. Outside of the euphemism of the acronym, it is annihilate any artillery or armored resistance Let him wait ahead of the advance of his own troops.
Before this war, The GAU-8 cannon has already hit Iranian militiasthe Popular Mobilization Forces, a Shiite guerrilla that operated infiltrated in Iraqi territory with local support. Now, the plane not only has a mission of platoon and ground vehicle huntinga: in its operational remodeling it has been equipped with anti-drone countermeasures and cheap weapons, small Hydra70 rocketsto try to shoot down the Iranian Sahed, the same flying robots that, 2,700 kilometers to the north, Russia also uses with its own version and for its systematic air attack on Ukraine.
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