Lieutenant Colonel Sam Milam taxies an A-10C Thunderbolt II to its new home Aug. 7 at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. This aircraft is the first of approximately 50 upgraded A-10Cs moving to Moody AFB as a part of a base realignment. The move is expected to be complete in early spring 2008 as aircraft are converted from A-10A to A-10C models. Colonel Milam is the 75th Fighter Squadron commander. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres)
Say hello to the latest edition of the A-10, the A-10C. They've been deployed in Iraq for two months and thus far have been getting good reviews. The various upgrades give the A-10 the same ground capabilities that most other fighters (in terms of ability to use the newer stand-off weapons) in addition to the close-in hellfire and damnation for which they were always the most capable delivery platform and made it the favorite of people like me.
They can now drop JDAMs, plus a new targeting pod, improved cockpit displays and digital comms, bringing them up to current standards. This allows the A10s to take full advantage of all the advances in airspace control and situation awareness of the air picture. The targeting pod pod gives them a better picture (literally) of what's going on down on the deck, day or night. The thermal camera gives them the ability to detect recently emplaced roadside bombs, and according to AF and Army sources, the A-10C pilots have been honing that skill as a priority.
Basically, the Air Force has dragged that ugly airframe into the early 21st Century, even as they'd like to ditch it... except it's still the only aircraft built to come in low and fight hard, and survive and is still cheaper to operate than the other aircraft the AF uses in the ground support role.
3 Comments