Tri-Service

U.S. Air Force Shelves Ageing A-10 Retirement Plans

The much loved A-10 Thunderbolt has been rolling back every one of its 44 years in the fight against Islamic State and been so effective, the Air Force has had to shelve her retirement plans.

Affectionately termed the "Warthog" by the ground troops it supported in previous conflicts, the ageing aircraft has survived budget cutbacks in the Department of Defense once again.

Defense One quoted the Air Force officials as saying that, while the A-10 would still need to be retired, the service would put aside immediate plans to take it out of service because of the important role it is playing in combating Islamic State.

Due to its armour, the relatively slow A-10 is built tough enough to withstand ground fire while providing close air support (CAS) over a battlefield, employing its high-powered Gatling gun to fire 30mm armour-piercing, depleted-uranium cannon rounds against tanks and other targets.

According to an article from the LA Times, “the plane is designed to keep flying even if parts of the wing or one of its engines have been blown to shreds. And the cockpit is surrounded by a bullet-resistant titanium tub.”

source: imgur.com

Durable: A-10 of the 172nd Fighter Squadron after it was hit in the right engine by an Iraq missile. It managed to fly back to base and land safely. Iraq, 2003.

More: To Prove Its CAS Capabilities, F-35 To Face Off Against A-10

Influential U.S. Senator John McCain welcomed the news.

“Today, the A-10 fleet is playing an indispensable role in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and assisting NATO’s efforts to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe,” McCain, the who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State.

The Arizona senator, supporter of the A-10 and former U.S Navy pilot himself has vowed to save the A-10 alongside other U.S lawmakers.

“With growing global chaos and turmoil on the rise, we simply cannot afford to prematurely retire the best close air support weapon in our arsenal without fielding a proper replacement,” McCain added.

The Pentagon is still planning to pit the A-10 against the new F-35 fighter to gauge the joint strike fighter's ability to perform in a CAS role.

Capable of firing up-to 4,200 rounds per minute, here's a video of the GAU-8/A Gatling gun doing what it does best:

The Air Force has been seeking to retire the "Warthog" to save money and free up people to learn how to maintain the new F-35 joint strike fighter.

The A-10 was produced by Fairchild Republic Company, now a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp.

The GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun next to a VW Type 1. Removing an installed GAU-8 from an A-10 requires first installing a jack under the aircraft's tail to prevent it from tipping, as the cannon makes up most of the aircraft's forward weight.