A-10 Warthog

This article is fucking 'Murican. Expect copious amounts of Freedom with an infrequent side of Awesome.

If you hear the sound of it, you're either on the right side, or you're next.

"You can shoot down every MiG the Soviets employ, but if you return to base and the lead Soviet tank commander is eating breakfast in your snack bar, Jack, you've lost the war."

– Anonymous A-10 Pilot, USAF

Officially called the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the Warthog is a brutal ground attack aircraft used by the US military. The A-10 was designed with one purpose in mind: destroying anything and everything that could possibly stand between the US and total victory. This thing was basically built around the GAU-8 30mm Avenger Gatling Cannon, which fires depleted uranium shells at up to 4,200 RPM. The recoil from which is so powerful that it basically halves the forward thrust of the two engines while firing. If the seven barrels of GAU-8 weren't enough for you, the A-10 also can mount a staggering amount of ordnance on its wing rails, ranging from the devastating Maverick missile, to CBU-52 cluster bombs, to AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for dealing with helicopters.

The A-10's reputation has become far more mixed in recent years with the advent of people looking into the development and operational history of the aircraft, but what cannot be denied is that the A-10 has earned its reputation for destructive capability.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

Whoo boy, this thing is epic, if ludicrously expensive. 5 points each, for something on the board only 50% of the time! The A-10 is the tankiest ground attack aircraft in the game, offset by its extreme cost. The GAU-8 Avenger makes it superior to the SU-25 for marginally more versatility. With a Rate of fire of 4, you can BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR at exposed infantry and APCs like an airborne VADs firing on the move, with pretty strong chances of mass-bailing lightly armoured units to death.. With an AT value of 11, the Avenger Cannon is suitable for destroying cheap tanks like the T-55AM2 from the side; and is simply overkill for transports. Also, since the GAU-8 Avenger doesn't have the HEAT Special rule, BDD armor and Bazooka Skirts don't affect the armor value you are rolling against. Sadly, the mediocre 5+ FP also makes it a rather unreliable choice for killing, but a decent option to force bails. As an added bonus, its also anti-helicopter, so those Hinds the Soviets like to spam are suddenly looking a lot less secure.

For dealing with more robust things like Main battle tanks, the A-10 packs the Maverick missile. An AT 27(!) firepower 2+ tank buster, the Maverick is ridiculously good at tearing armoured vehicles a new one. Its also got the special rule Brutal which means successful unarmoured saves must be re-rolled (sweet). The other two rules, Guided and HEAT are great as shooting at targets with the Maverick basically ignoring the penalties for firing at long range, so you can snipe things from well outside AA range. However, there are some downsides, like the 8-inch dead zone, and the fact that it cannot shoot infantry if they're not twiddling their thumbs in slit trenches (but then again, why would you use a Maverick on infantry?).

Speaking of infantry you also get a one-use Template in the form of the CBU-52 cluster bomb, though the range is even shorter than that of the Avenger. With a 6+ Firepower, this bomb will devastate infantry in the open but is next to worthless against entrenched infantry.

The A-10's legendary durability is reflected in-game as its 3+ aircraft save is the strongest of any strike aircraft.

You can buy a Squadron of 2 A-10s for your American army for 10 points, and a squadron of 4 for 20.

Any competitive player wondering why they haven't seen Warthogs being spammed in games despite it being "the best ground attack aircraft"? It is overcosted and has a very specific role: engaging armour with its missiles, or isolated support units like artillery. Much like the Leopard 2, units in Team Yankee become competitive on their cost efficiency and NOT being the 'best'. Your A-10 might be pretty, but a company of mechanized infantry will outperform it every time. While its 3+ save is undeniably its best trait, it cannot make its point cost back if your opponent can simply whittle your ground forces down. Ground-attack aircraft in Team Yankee are typically geared towards the anti-tank role, but the meta favours large infantry blobs, rendering the Frogfoot and A-10 virtually worthless for any form of serious play. Combined with the fact that Warthogs need to be called in on a 4+, and you get a unit which disappears half the time (or every single time you need it).

For the role of sniping or forcing AA to spread, Cobras are the superior choice due to the fact that you control when they engage, not the dice. You could purchase a flight of 4 Cobras for 14 points, with almost the same level of firepower. Should the enemy forget their anti-air or have it wiped, your Cobras' ROF 6 can actually make their points back, unlike the Warthog.

HOWEVER, the Warthog is a key part of an American air-cavalry list spamming helicopters. Used as the tip of the spear to pop enemy air-defence, their durability allows them to trade points for tempo, while your Cobras provide the killing power. Apart from that, it remains rather unusable until expensive tanks re-enter the meta (looking at you, T-80s and M1A1s).

IRL

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT

The A-10 was first developed by the US Air Force as a response the US Army's development of the AH-56 Cheyenne. The Army had come to the conclusion that nuclear-armed tactical aircraft aren't all that helpful in a conventional war and had begun to come up with its ground support airframes. The Air Force took one look at the Army's plan and immediately had visions of the Army dominating the close air support niche (and subsequent control of the air support budget), and that would just not do, no sir. When the A-10 was rolled out, the general consensus from the Army was, "This is just what we wanted! That wasn't so hard now was it?" The Air Force brass then had to grit its teeth and spent nearly the next 5 decades trying to get rid of the A-10 at every opportunity, though that didn't quite turn out the way they wanted.

The Warthog has served in multiple conflicts, like the Gulf War, the Balkans Conflict, The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and most recently in the War on Terror. Originally, there was a plan to retire the A-10 by the year 2022 and replace it with the F-35. However, the defense committee in Congress eventually got tired of the USAF's hateboner for the A-10, and so put the kibosh on their attempts to retire it, effectively telling them to cut that shit out. They concluded that while the F-35 should be good enough (in theory), in the ground attack role and even though the GAU-8 is no longer quite the ultimate tank killer gun, there really isn't any substitute for the A-10 in the light bomber role. So the A-10 is slated to remain a part of the US Inventory "for the foreseeable future," alongside other mainstay platforms like the B-52 and F-15. Also, whenever the Air Force tries to retire it the Army casually mentions that it wants to buy and refit them and GEE GOLLY WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!

Ultimately, the reason that the A-10 exists in the first place is because it can loiter around the battlefield for a long time, it is resistant to return fire, can take off from and land on roughly-prepared air strips, and it also has the capability to accurately deliver a lot of ordnance. And while it's not particularly fast the A-10 is highly maneuverable. You can find videos of them training by flying through a forest, nailing targets. Not "flying over", flying through the damn forest, dodging trees. Not that it has to, though. The A-10 was designed to fly with one engine, one stabilizer, and half of one wing GONE. Not any one of those, ALL OF THOSE, at the same time. The engines are reversible, one side being mounted upside down. The hydraulic controls have mechanical backups. The landing gear stick out when retracted so it can belly flop. The cockpit is armored to resist 23 mm autocannon rounds (gee we wonder why). It also hard counters enemy attack helicopters, being the airplane with the most chopper kills by a large margin.

The A-10 is the source of multiple memes, whether it's the sound it makes (BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT) or the fact that "it's not a plane with a gun strapped to it, it's a gun with a plane strapped to it." It is more than just a joke, though: the GAU-8 is so awesome a weapon that the A-10 frame had to be specifically designed around it. The engines are so far at the back to act as counterweight, the frontal landing wheel is slightly off-center as to allow the huge gun to be perfectly centre-line and the recoil must be taken into account by the pilot when the gun is fired. There is a lot of truth to 'it is not a plane with a big gun strapped to it, it's a big gun with a plane strapped to it'.

If your thinking that the the GAU-8 and its ammo drum could be be replaced with a modified a AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System plus heatsinks. That's a big "maybe", because USAF brass isn't interested in upgrading the A-10 further than they are forced too. Plus with their stalled laser and hypersonic missile programs. The Army might beat them to the punch by mounting lasers on the V-280 Valor(a more advanced Tiltrotor than the V-22) and giving it a CAS configuration much like the UH-60L Direct Action Penetrator. A version of the Blackhawk with no troop carrying capacity.

All this being said, the A-10 has some serious problems in the modern battlefield. Modernization to prevent friendly fire incidents(something the A-10 does all too frequently) would cost more than the aircraft is worth. The A-10's legendary tank killing abilities also are fiercely debated between aircraft nerds and military buffs. A 1970s test of the aircraft determined that in ideal conditions, the A-10 would perform well, but these tests did not simulate AA fire, air cover, or even have the test tanks moving (To be fair, this would be pretty ambitious, but still) which would substantially alter the results. The A-10 flying at low altitude is also like the Russians and Ukrainians at low altitude: They are trying to evade advanced AA systems. Which is fine, except that the MANPADS(A missile launcher on a grunt that can send an enemy pilot into the shadow realm) are now an essential part of most military force's arsenals now in some way. (Of course, it does come with both flares and chaff) While the A-10 CAN thoroughly eat damage, this does not mean it should, and the aircraft has been shot down. Frontline troops have regularly reported that they hate hearing A-10s are their air support, because with rare exception the GAU-8 tends to throw ammo over a wide area that includes where said frontline troops are and did we mention that the GAU-8 primary munition has a depleted uranium penetrater? You don't want to be breathing heavy metals like that if you can help it. To be fair, they are far less critical when said A-10 decides to throw missiles or bombs at the target rather than just BRRT things to oblivion.

With re-winging complete, the A-10 will likely serve until the late 2030s. Although a number of different replacements have been proposed from time to time, none are in the pipeline. There were some plans to mod A-10s to be remote controlled/optionally piloted drones, but those programs appear to have been canned. The Ukrainans have asked for them, and America has pretty much shot that down due to supply and service concerns.

Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T-62 - T-72M
Transports:	BTR-60 - OT-64 - AMX-10P - BMP-1
Troops:	Motor Rifle Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - 2S3 Acacia - AMX Auf1 - BM-21 Hail
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko - Roland AA
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel - VCR/TH
Recon:	BRDM-2 - BTR-60 OP
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - Gazelle HOT
US Support:	A-10 Warthog - AV-8 Harrier