Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog)

History of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog)

The A-10 Thunderbolt II was designed from the ground up to fulfill a close air support (CAS) role and is probably only surpassed in range by the Soviet/Russian Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. The term inherent in "air support" is often defined differently by each nation (and may even be viewed differently by individual commanders). The Vietnam War demonstrated this need for the U.S. Air Force, whose thirsty, high-flying jets could barely directly support troops in contact with the enemy, roaming stations until called and then leaving to deliver payloads with precision. In addition, These aircraft have little ability to directly deal with heavy armored systems, and their 20mm Vulcan cannons can be used to attack other aircraft and even light vehicles.

Combat helicopters offer a solution to this problem, but no real dedicated systems exist - such as the propeller-driven Douglas A-1 Skyraider. An answer is needed, and that answer will be the armour-killing "warthog" of the Fairchild Republic A-10.

Tank destroyers in World War II

Armor-piercing elements played a vital role in World War II, and tank-to-tank battles often tipped the war in one direction and the other. Therefore, all parties are working on developing aircraft with appropriate weapons to deal with enemy armor. The most famous of these is probably the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, equipped with two underwing pods capable of penetrating Soviet tank armor at projectile speed.

The exercise certainly demonstrated the value of a dedicated tank destruction system, but even in the postwar years, neither side came up with a capable design, and it felt like other systems filled the CAS role more than effectively.

The name of the "warthog"

Although the A-10 was officially named "Thunderbolt II" in April 1978 in honor of another of the Republic's standout products - the World War II P-47 Thunderbolt - it continues the company's tradition of using non- Official name to match the reference standard "pig". The Republic F-84 was the first to use the moniker, earning the moniker "Groundhog" or "Pig", while the F-84F Thunderstreak became "Super Pig" and the Vietnam-era F-105 Thunderchief became "Super Hog". Continuing this tradition, the A-10 Thunderbolt II has been informally known as the "Warthog" over the years due to its not-so-pretty looks. Major Michael G. Major removed the name from his speech in the Tactical Air Warfare Center (TAWC) review. The name persisted among the crew, but later morphed into the simpler "Hog" or more appropriately "Hawg".

Regardless, the official Thunderbolt II name and the unofficial Warthog moniker are basically interchangeable when it comes to this beautiful plane.

Close Air Support (CAS)

The close air support (CAS) capability relies on a number of different requirements that differentiate the design from existing strike fighters. The aircraft can operate in combat operations, becoming a target for small arms, large-caliber land-based artillery and missile batteries.

Therefore, survival is crucial for both the pilot and the machine. The pilot needs to sit in a properly armored environment, and the aircraft's critical internal operating components (hydraulics, avionics, and fuel) need to be designed to keep the aircraft in the air even after combat damage, as do nearly all other aircraft. As a system designed to attack heavily armored and light (or non-armored) ground targets, the aircraft needs to be heavily armed and capable of delivering impressive payload performance.

As a CAS aircraft, the new design also needed to take advantage of efficient engine performance without depleting vital fuel stores, and provide the ability to linger around a target area for hours until ground forces or commandos called for action.

Demand for the US Air Force

So far, only so-called "Hotrods" have been in the US Air Force's stables during the Vietnam War. These planes, mostly jets, can undoubtedly fly high, but in terms of CAS requirements, that also means waiting minutes and a very large turning radius. This superpower might allow the target to defect once or twice before they have to return home to arm and refuel.

These aircraft are also notorious for long takeoff and landing rolls, which means they require a large, fixed area to operate. There are also issues of the inherent complexity of the refueling and re-equipment process and payload capacity limitations, all of which point to the urgent need for truly dedicated CAS aircraft. The propeller-driven Douglas A-1 Skyraiders of war proved the effectiveness of a low-altitude close-support aircraft with excellent firepower, solid quality, and low-speed/low-altitude maneuverability, but what it lacked was the performance of its powerful jet-powered counterparts .

The Republic becomes the Fairchild Republic

Republic Aviation began in 1939 when Seversky Aircraft Corporation encountered financial problems and was reformed under the new Republic name. The new Farmingdale, New York-based company finally made a marketing and financial hit in June 1942 with its superb P-47 Thunderbolt.

The P-47 - known as the "Jug" - was an eight-gun armed beast that proved equally suitable for the roles of fighter and ground attacker. It produced more than any other American fighter jet during World War II, making the Republic a household name.

Widely used in Europe and the Pacific, the Thunderbolt is universally popular among pilots, although today most war students often ignore it in favor of the sexy P-51 Mustang, Fw 190 or Supermarine Spitfire centralized. Interestingly, U.S. military use of the P-47 ceased immediately after the war, and there were no plans to remove it from storage until the Korean War.

Many of the Jug's supporters believe that the tough nature of the P-47 played a major role in the conflict.

Still, the postwar world was the age of jet reconnaissance. Of course, the Republic also joined the fray and developed a family of single-engine F-84 fighter jets, which included the straight-wing F-84D Thunder, its swept-wing cousin, the F-84F Thunder, and the dedicated reconnaissance platform RF-84F Thunderstrike.

Thunder jets proved valuable during the Korean War, and many remained in the Air National Guard until the early 1970s before realizing their intrinsic purpose.

Next on the Republic drawing board proved to be the large and complex but ultimately dominant F-105 Thunderchief. This single-engine monster became the U.S. Air Force's largest fighter jet to date, and served extensively in the Vietnam War, where it played a variety of roles, including strike and reconnaissance operations. She was mainly in the ground attack role until she was replaced by the excellent twin-engine, two-seat, multi-role McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

Of the 833 Thunderchief systems delivered, 397 will go missing over Vietnam.

Republic has made several attempts to foray into the commercial and airliner markets, but has failed to generate much interest, let alone generate revenue. The company is going through a rough patch, and its last attempt to sell the U.S. Air Force with an attack plane failed.

In July 1965, Republic Aviation was fully acquired by Fairchild.

Fairchild began as Fairchild Aviation Corporation in 1929 and became Fairchild Hiller after the acquisition of Hiller Aircraft in 1964. They became Fairchild Industries in 1971 following the death of founder Sherman Fairchild. The A-10 Thunderbolt II will be sold under the common name Fairchild Republic.

Fairchild continued development beyond the A-10 and was renamed Fairchild Dornier after taking over the German aircraft maker's civilian division in 1996. Today, Fairchild is taken over by the German insurance company Allianz A.G. and the American company Clayton.

Dubilier & Rice, Incorporated, and trades under the M7 Aerospace brand.

AX Contest

The AX ("Attack Experiment") program began in June 1966, with detailed requirements compiled in September of the same year. On March 6, 1967, the U.S. Air Force issued a Request for Information (RFI) to no fewer than 21 trusted defense contractors.

On May 2, 1967, General Dynamics, Grumman, Northrop, and McDonald's subsequently entered into a follow-up research contract to find the best protective armor, Internal systems and fuel arrangement. The lofty goal of the program was to develop a highly sustainable purpose-built CAS aircraft to meet the needs so painfully revealed during the Vietnam War.

If the Soviet Union develops a full-scale war in Europe with a land invasion of tanks, infantry and support vehicles, NATO will have to deal with such forces with equal force - engaging targets in the middle of the night or in bad weather conditions, and thus across Europe Mainland is very common. The new aircraft will replace the obsolete Douglas A-1 Skyraider in the U.S.

Air Force. It is considered best that new aircraft should use two turbofan engines, so that there is no need (and range) to operate the rotating propeller blades, and allow single-engine operation if required.

Boeing, Cessna, Fairchild Republic, General Dynamics, Lockheed and Northrop provided responses on August 10, 1970.

An additional requirement in the AX competition was for the aircraft to be equipped with a massive 30mm rotating cannon, one of the largest production weapons ever mounted on a fighter. The 20mm M61 Vulcan guns of Vietnam-era aircraft proved adequate against other air targets, but they were seriously inadequate against valuable armored targets.

Recorded combat experience even as far back as World War II suggests that hitting enemy armor from a distance and from the air requires large-caliber bolt-action weapons.

Two companies were selected as early winners, Northrop and Fairchild Republic. Each company was assigned to design, develop and build two prototypes, designated YA-9A and YA-10A.

This is a shot in the arm for the Republic, as their assembly line is now cold since production of the F-105 Thunderchief ended.

Northrop YA-9

The

Northrop Submission's core is fairly traditional, looking a bit like a Sukhoi Su-25 "Frogfoot" combat platform, with a straight-wing, multi-hardpoint design running along a slender semi-monocoque fuselage with an emphasis on riveted aluminum skins. The cockpit is designed to maintain a good forward orientation, providing good forward and side views above the short nose assembly.

The wings were mounted on the shoulders with truncated wingtips amidships. The wing surface area is large to add extra drag and provides up to 10 powerful under-wing hardpoints for different ordnance loads. The engines were mounted in the lower part of the fuselage and spaced at certain distances to improve survivability. The rear wing is conventional, tapering to a large-area single vertical rear wing with two upward-sloping stabilizers.

At rest, she sits on the undercarriage of a traditional tricycle, all with independent wheels. The landing gear consists of two main gear legs retracted to each side of the powerplant assembly and one nose gear leg retracted below the cockpit floor. The nosebone was moved to port to make room for the intended 30mm nose cannon, but a 20mm M61 Vulcan was installed at the same time. Fuel tanks are installed in each wing assembly outside the engine assembly. Flight controls have been removed to improve direct hit survivability.

The pilot sits in an armored aluminum "bathtub," although the production aircraft will be made of titanium. The engines are a pair of Lycoming YF102 Development Series turbofans.