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