A-10 Thunderbolt II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom 2002-07

Osprey Combat Aircraft #98

by Gary Wetzel

In the early 1970s, the USAF, still fresh in the mire of the Vietnam War, began the search for a more effective aircraft to conduct the CAS mission. With aircraft losses climbing, the need for an aircraft that could withstand punishment as well as deliver it was unmistakable. Looking at past experience in Southeast Asia as well as the present and future threat in Western Europe of a numerically superior Soviet Army, the USAF demanded that the new aircraft be built around a 30 mm cannon. Fairchild Republic won the resulting A-X competition in 1973 and General Electric was chosen the following year to build the jet's GAU-8 30 mm main gun. Some 715 A-10s were subsequently built between 1975 and 1984. The A-10 was never a favourite amongst the USAF's senior staff, and prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 they had attempted to transfer the aircraft to the US Army and Marine Corps. Everything changed when Operation Desert Storm began, as the A-10 quickly showed what it was capable of. Reprieved from premature retirement, the A-10 would see combat in the Balkans during the mid-1990s and over Iraq in Operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch until Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, the Bush administration responded with the instigation of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in October 2001. A-10 aircraft first entered the fray during Operation Anaconda in March 2002, flying first from an airfield in Pakistan and then from Bagram AB in Afghanistan. During Anaconda four A-10s flying from Pakistan provided 21 straight hours of FAC (A)/CAS coverage. Since then the flexibility of the A-10 has persisted, with units moving through airfields in Afghanistan under AEF deployments. This ongoing commitment has seen active duty, Reserve and Air National Guard squadrons rotating through Bagram and Kandahar airfields in support of Coalition forces in-theatre. The premier CAS aircraft in Afghanistan, the once disposable A-10 has become indispensable. With new upgrades, the 'digital' A-10C has seen its arsenal expanded to include the latest generation of ordnance. The untold story of the A-10 in Enduring Freedom will be explored and presented as never before through first hand interviews and photography from those involved, along with official military achieves. This title is the first of three planned covering the combat experience of the USAF's A-10 Thunderbolt II units. Follow-on volumes will examine the role of the Warthog during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Genres: Military Fiction

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another in the Osprey series, "Combat Aircraft." Author Gary Wetzel traces the role of the A-10 "Warthog" in Operationn Enduring Freedom. Much of the book's coverage takes place in Afghanistan. However, the volume begins with a brief history of the development of this aircraft--a plane built around a "big gun," a 30 millimeter cannon. The Warthog was designed for air support for "close air support."

The book tells their story of A-10s and their pilots in Afghanistan operations. Those interviews give life to the book, as we hear of the Warthog's work from those most closely associated with the plane. And their memories of the combat operations of which they were part. The book also gives us good information on maintenance of the Warthog and its operational abilities and needs. At this level, the book is very good.

However, over the 96 total pages in this book, the reader can get lost in a welter of acronyms and initials that are hard to keep straight. It slowed the reading down and sometimes became confusing to me. Perhaps this would not be an impediment with others, but I found it making the reading more difficult.

Nonetheless, a fine book, given life because of the many interviews with the pilots and others associated with the Warthog.

[Luka Novak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's a typical Osprey book. 96 pages of text, some colour plates and photos. Book covers a bit of A-10 development before jumping in to their deployment in Afghanistan.

One of flaws this book has is it's abundancy of acronyms which go beyond usual ones in such field, such as CAP, CAS.... While they are explained first time they appear a short list of them at the end of the book wouldn't hurt.

But what books covering recent US wars lack is sense of tension in describing action. Vignettes basically boil down to "We got call from troops on the ground, we arrived on station, troops identified targets for us, we used out sensors to get details, we rolled in, dropped bombs, straffed bad guys and went home". Such action simply lacks the tension of, say F-105 over Vietnam or P-51 over Europe

Still an interesting book about interesting plane in low intensity conflict.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good look at the A-10 ops in Afghanistan. Quite a lot of personal accounts as its modern day. Not the color plates fault but all of them are in Gray. This is of course accurate but its rather drab but of course is the paint scheme they used.

[Randall Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, well researched & quick read. Shows what the ''expert//media newspersonalities'', did NOT 'cover' when they touristed Iraq.

[Keith Budzynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hogs in Action

A great overview of A-10s in the first part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Describes plenty of the operational missions performed by the Hogs.