decoonass Loc: San Antonio

Some good news for a change.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-usafs-much-maligned-a-10-warthogs-are-deploying-to-1640395280

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

A Bad Boy :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

teacherdad48 Loc: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

this bad news for the bad guys!

nakkh Loc: San Mateo, Ca

Sucks to be ISIS

mwalsh Loc: Houston

I guess I never heard it was much maligned. I thought it was much loved.

Design a formidable weapon system, then design an aircraft to project the system's lethal force.

Glad to hear it is returning. I have seen some photos of ISIS convoys and thought, a couple or three Warthogs in formation could really help humanity in that scene !!!!

bparr1 Loc: Carthage, TN

The article is spot on. I never did understand why the Air Force mothballed the A-10. It's the perfect platform for close air support for the boots on the ground. It can deliver ordinance with precision. Yeah, compared to the F-15, F-16 and FA-18, they're low tech, seat-of-the-pants aircraft. With the advent of the new guided ordinance, the Warthog really came into it's own in the first Gulf War.

The higher tech fighter pilots had a joke about the "Warthog" saying, it was the only aircraft ever built that had a calendar instead of a clock on the pilot's panel.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Fighter pilots as a group look down on ground attack. Moving mud is not as glamorous as air to air and becoming an ace. The army and congress wanted a dedicated ground attack and support aircraft, not the Air Force. It was forced on them. I read some where that at one point they even ordered the tools and dies destroyed to make sure no more were built. A large part of its lack of performance and being under powered was because they insisted it be loaded down with more features and weapons points (weight). The original design was meant to hunt vehicles etc. with the 30 mm and a light bomb/rocket load. They added more weapons points and bracing to the wings without upping the engine power. In spite of that it proved to be outstanding at its original purpose of ground support and tank hunting.

warwoman Loc: NE Georgia Mtns.

Also glad to hear the "Hog" is getting into the fight. What an ugly....and most BEAUTIFUL airplane.
With the strict ROE of the fight, I can't help but think that there will be "boots" to spot for these guys, and hopefully heavily armed search and rescue guys available for these pilots when, god forbid, one of the planes falls prey to one of the thousands of MANPADS the bad guys have. I know the warthog is heavily armored and has counter measures for sam avoidance and can take a true beating and keep on flying, but somewhere the "golden BB" comes into the equation. I hope somebody's doing their homework and has support in place. We don't need to have any pilots show up on the internet or news channels kneeling in orange jumpsuits!
Hopefully, we'll see scenes such as shown below. Can't wait to hear the "Dragon Roar"!

(PS- It seems fitting to me that a WartHOG (read PIG) will be used in the battle against MUSLIM EXTREMISTS....FITTING!!!)

davidheald1942 Loc: Mars (the planet)

Ever since "Desert Storm" The "Wart-Hog" has been my favorite "fighter Bomber" (lots of quotes). I really enjoyed the video of them killing all those tanks. They even nicked named them "Tank Busters". I wonder if the Navy and Marines still have their "Wart-Hogs? (I didn't enjoy the killing of humans, I just enjoyed the watching them kill the tanks.)
Thanks a lot for posting, (VERY INTERESTING.)

ronny

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's a very distinctive plane, very impressive performance.

bluescreek Loc: N.C. Sandhills

:thumbup: I miss seeing the Warthogs flyin' over the house now and then when they were stationed at nearby Pope Field AFB in N.C.

Sendai5355 Loc: On the banks of the Pedernales River, Texas

And maybe, "Puff the Magic Dragon" too.

rhadams824 Loc: Arkansas

I wondered what happened to this concept. It was one on the first things I thought along with the A-10s of when I saw pictures of these ISIS fighters.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

A friend of mine was an A-10 pilot in Afganistan. Was so good , he taught in the A-10 version of top gun. In one of the war games they hold out west, he "shot down" an FA-18 in a dog fight, an unheard of feat. I have seen the footage, once he locked on, it was considered a kill. Apparently the FA-18 pilot got a good ribbing everywhere he went after that.

Note in the "highway of death"convoy they decimated as the retreated from Kuwait…(in everything they could carry from the looting)… they did not hunt down people when they ran from their vehicles. IF they chose to stay, well tough, but they were only after the vehicles in that battle. They ignored the Iraquis who watched. Even so, it was mentally tough on the pilots. It is very close and personal, they actually see what they are doing.

They are efficient, they can loiter over the battle field. They're tough - every system is redundant and the pilot sits in a titanium bathtub that protects them from ground fire. They are quiet… the Iraqis called them the silent gun, they only heard them when they left. However, the marines and army LOVED them. When one was shot down in gulf war 2, the pilot parachuted behind enemy lines, hiding in a crater with his side arm, he was surprised when a humvy s suddenly pulled up, with out a word, 4 marines grabbed him, picked him up, ran and threw him in on the floor the truck, then sat on him as they sped back. (This protected him from ground fire) They take care of those who take care of them. A higher tribute there isn't.

They used to be based in SYracuse, I actually saw one fly below us after we climbed a mountain and were looking out, rolled right up on his side and dropped down! and then was gone. They fly up over the Adirondacks to Fort Drum and practice with the 10th mountain Division up there, you can hear the distant boom's! They are gone now, replaced by f-16's who fly in a role they were never intended or designed to fly. Too fast, too expensive to run, and not able to do the same job, but they are pretty. I don't think A-10's are ugly at all, no more than a tank… but that is why they call them warthogs.

Curtis_Lowe Loc: Georgia

Thanks, I had pick up on this in the NEWS but this article was absolutely fantastic.