A-10 Warthog

You are sooooooooo fucked

When the going gets tough, the tough call in close air support

Officially called the A-10 Thunderbolt 2, 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 rounds 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 ordinance 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 is also extraordinarily tough. Almost every system has a back up, and the A-10 is quite capable of flight with only one engine and half its tail. The Pilot is protected with a "Titanium Bathtub" that encompasses the cockpit and shields against all but the heaviest ground fire.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

Whoo boy, this thing is epic. The A-10 is, hands down, the best ground attack aircraft in the game.

The GAU-8 Avenger alone is almost enough to warrant this status. With a Rate of fire 4, you can BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, at exposed infantry and APCs and utterly ruin their day. With an AT value of 11, the Avenger Cannon will utterly wreck anything will an armor value up less than 4 and stands a chance at damaging up to armor 9. 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(!) fire power 2+ tank buster, the Maverick is ridiculously good at tearing armored vehicles a new one. Its also got the special rule "Brutal"" which means successful saves must be rerolled (sweet). The other two rules, "Guided" and "HEAT" are great as shooting at targets with the Maverick basically ignores 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, BDD armor effecting your rolls and the fact that it cant shoot infantry if they have not moved (but 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.

The A-10s 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 you American army for 10 points, and a squadron of 4 for 20.

IRL

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

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 then grit its teeth and has since tried to get rid of the A-10 at every opportunity.

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. But the defense committee in Congress put the kibosh on the USAFs attempts to retire it, concluding while the F-35 is nice and all that, some times all you need is a platform that can deliver a butt load of ordinance at once, and the A-10 is now slated to remain a part of the US Inventory "for the foreseeable future."

The A-10 is also 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 weapon plane strapped to it." The latter has some merit as the A-10 would tip over onto its tail if the GAU-8 was removed.