I started kicking out flares thinking I had been hit by a heat-seeking missile and that there were others coming at me. And just then a missile goes tearing by and that scared the hell out of me. I was about 11,000 feet above the ground when I heard a big thunk and a huge jolt. I got the wings level, pulled hard in the vertical and then started a left jink. I rolled the wing up and looked down to try and pick up any kind of equipment at the intersection, but didnít see anything. I rolled in from 17,000 feet, shallow-30† dive, and bottomed out at about 9,000 feet. Quantitatively, the A-10A airplane is as little as 1/10 as vulnerable as other operationally equivalent airplane types, depending on the threat encountered.īelow is a personal account by Col. Thus, one of the more essential qualities for providing an effective close air support weapon system is firmly established. These quotes are from the A-10A system specification. The major reductions in vulnerability of the A-10A airplane provide the required "highly survivable" airplane which will "prevent its loss when operated in the anticipated threat environment". The ballistic tests were conducted both during the competitive prototype phase of the A-X program, in which two prototype aircraft were designed and built, and during the development, test and evaluation of the production program. These major reductions in vulnerability have been verified by many ballistic test firings against all critical areas of the airplane. As a consequence it incorporates over 100 features which significantly reduce its vulnerability not only to weapons that have been responsible for so many combat losses in past conflicts but also to the more potent weapons expected to be encountered in possible future conflicts. The A-10A airplane was designed from its inception to a complete set of survivability requirements. The following text was written in the mid-1970s by Joseph Arrighi for a Fairchild Republic presentation on the "Survivability Design Features Incorporated in the A-10A Close Air Support Weapon System." All images displayed were provided by Mr. This configuration also leaves space for the front landing gear, which is mounted slightly off-center on the starboard side of the nose.The Titanium Bathtub - A-10 Survivability This arrangement accurately centers the recoil forces, preventing changes in aircraft pitch or yaw when fired. The firing barrel also lies just below the aircraft’s center of gravity, being bore-sighted along a line 2 degrees below the aircraft’s line of flight. Paul Gorman.īecause the gun’s recoil forces could push the entire plane off target during firing, the weapon itself is mounted laterally off-center, slightly to the port side of the fuselage centerline, with the actively “firing” barrel in the nine o’clock position (when viewed from the front of the aircraft), so that the firing barrel lies directly on the aircraft’s centerline. The mission of the Hardwood Range is to provide air-to-ground weapons delivery and threat awareness training for combat aircrews through the presentation of a variety of realistic target arrays and use of several types of threat emitter systems.Ībove: An A-10 Thunderbolt II completes a strafing run intended to neutralize a simulated ground threat.īelow: Guysers of sand and earth errupt from the impact of multiple 30 mm bullets as A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft strafe simulated threat targets during the CSAREX ’18 combat search and rescue exercise.Īll pictures by U.S.
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