Enhancements keep Warthog tusks sharp

The A-10C Thunderbolt II is unique as the only fixed-wing close air support (CAS) aircraft operated by the USAF.

Known as the Warthog, the ungainly looking aircraft (introduced in 1976) disables enemy armour, neutralises lesser targets and watches over US and allied combat troops.

Designed during Cold War for the CAS role against Soviet aggression in Western Europe, the Warthog instead proved its worth in Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, as well as against ISIS and other Islamist terrorist groups.

With titanium in vulnerable areas, the airframe is unusually robust. Modifications have been therefore been incremental and relatively minor, apart from re-winging and cockpit hardening work.

However, as with all legacy aviation assets the A-10 requires sustainment. Structural, kinetic and electronic upgrades, directed by USAF Materiel Command and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, keep the Warthog in fighting trim.  

Capt Jacob Bailey of Materiel Command insisted to Shephard that the future of the A-10 is secure, despite periodic efforts to cancel it.

There was talk once of replacing the A-10 with the F-35, or phasing out Warthog in favour of a new light attack platform. However, the A-10 has lower operating costs than the F-35 and the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted in December 2020 that ‘OA-X [a future light attack/armed reconnaissance platform] has disappeared as an Air Force programme’.

Recent Congressional appropriations, Bailey said, ‘fund modernisation efforts as part of the Air Force’s commitment to keeping the A-10 in the inventory until the 2030s’.

There is FY2021 funding for 281 aircraft: 141 serve with active-duty USAF units, 85 with the Air National Guard and 55 with the Air Force Reserve.

A total of $160 million is allocated to continue avionics upgrades and a wing refit programme for older Warthogs.

Click here for larger image

To date, 173 aircraft have received new Boeing-built wings, said Bailey, with 45 more to be fitted with wing sets via the A-10 Thunderbolt Advanced Continuation Kitting programme.

These refits afford each Warthog an additional 10,000 flying hours before needing an inspection. 

Also fielded are new weapons, sensors and avionics suites. A-10 armament options are already broad, including laser-guided smart munitions and ‘dumb’ iron bombs; rockets; offensive and defensive missiles; and the General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon protruding from the nose of the aircraft.

The Warthog upgrade includes a special rack for up to eight under-wing GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs: four times as many as the aircraft can carry today and hence a major boost in standoff weaponry given their 110km range.

Other new features for the A-10 include improved Thales Visionix Scorpion heads-up display helmets with hybrid-inertial motion pilot head-tracking technology; replacement of the original magnetic tracking sensor with a hybrid optical-based inertial version, meant to better monitor head movements; and new Link 16 connections enabling communications and information exchange with tactical jets, including F-35s, bombers, EW aircraft and AEW&C platforms. 

In addition, Warthogs will be equipped with a new synthetic aperture radar pod to supplement existing targeting capabilities provided by Sniper and Litening pods.

Improved GPS, anti-jamming/ECM, cyberdefence, digital mapping and other tools could also be rolled out this year.

Speaking to Shephard, a former A-10 pilot said that any upgrades would be very valuable and welcome, albeit essentially icing on a remarkable cake.

The source, who besides five years of flying A-10s had extensive time in F-4s and F-16s, said: ‘It’s got a very large cockpit with 360-degree visibility allowing for deep six [detailed] coverage; it’s very reliable and rarely breaks; it’s built like a truck, not a Porsche.’

He described other strengths: ‘It’s a huge aircraft, but designed to be very manoeuvrable. You can achieve incredible turn rates even loaded with ordnance, making it difficult for enemy fighters to attack.’

Besides which, the ex-Warthog pilot said, ‘no one wants a 30mm Gatling gun in their face’.