Avenger Wrath: A-10 Thunderbolt II 'Warthog' in Afghanistan

The A-10 has become an important element of CAS and FAC and is like the grizzled old-school soldier of the USAF. It's never been an aviation beauty queen, it's not super-fast, it's not even full to the brim of state of the art electronics. It just shows up, gets angry, scares the hell out enemy ground forces, and goes home. It’s nickname ‘Warthog’ says it all, angry looking and not the prettiest. But still the best ground attack aircraft in service and proven itself in Iraq and Afghanistan.The A-10 Thunderbolt II saw almost constant use in Afghanistan, proving itself yet again, as formidable and capable weapons platform. This revised and updated version of the book, has become more poignant as the F-35 has the chance to prove that it can take on the A-10s role, but still coming up short.Fitted with the GAU-8 Avenger a 30mm cannon, designed to cut through tank armour was found to be just as good at tearing through the thick mud walls of compounds were the Taliban often took refuge in to mount ambushes on coalition troops.Read more