About Gulf War A-10's

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About the A-10's of the Persian Gulf War

The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog" is the only aircraft in United States Air Force (USAF) history designed specifically for the close air support mission. It was designed to survive in an intense anti-aircraft environment including anti-aircraft guns, radar-guided and infrared missiles and absorb battle damage and keep flying. In fact, the A-10 is probably the most difficult plane ever built to shoot down due to its extreme maneuverability, self-sealing fuel tanks, wide separated jet engines on top of the fuselage, twin vertical tails, multiple independent hydraulic systems, manual backup flight control system and redundant wing spars.

 Complete Inventory of all A-10's built


A-10's In The Gulf

A total of 165 of these most recognizable and feared aircraft from 5 different units participated in Operation Desert Storm. All units were formalized under the 354th Provisional Wing with 144 aircraft at a time. The remaining aircraft above those 144 were replacements standing by at an off-site location to replace aircraft damaged beyond continued combat status or aircraft destroyed.  The A-10 'Warthog' was the most heavily damaged aircraft of the campaign due to it's low and slow flying mission.

 Inventory of A-10's serving in the Gulf War

The A-10 would circle areas making them extremely vulnerable to ground fire and surface to air missiles. Due to the severe damage, a couple of aircraft listed below didn't come home with us. We stripped them of parts and buried them in the Saudi desert. The rest were repaired, some more than once, and sent back to action.

Some of the repairs were major Depot Level Repairs the kind our 2951st performs back home at McClellan AFB, CA, such as Center Wing splits and Outer Wing replacements. previously not thought possible in the field during conflict. The 2951st CLSS proved they were possible numerous times... and successful!

Together, these A-10 and OA-10 aircraft conducted 8,775 sorties maintaining a 95.7% mission capable rate, 5% above A-10 peace-time rates, had the highest sortie rate of any USAF aircraft at 16.5% of all sorties in the Gulf.

Gulf War A-10 Stats and what they Destroyed

Pilots often flew up to three missions per day with A-10's accounted for destroying 1/4 of Iraq's entire arsenal. Often exposed to withering anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missile threats the slow, highly maneuverable A-10's incurred extensive combat battle damage during Desert Storm. A total of six A-10's were lost: five in combat action, another destroyed attempting to land at KKMC Forward Operating Location #1 after being badly battle damaged during combat. Nearly twenty more sustained significant battle damage and many others incurred minor damage. The A-10 had lower losses-to-missions rate than the F16, F-15E, or Tornado.

Roughly half the total Gulf War A-10 force, about 70, suffered some type of battle damage.

A-10 Gulf War Statistics

Gulf War A-10's & OA-10's Stats

Air superiority allowed innovative employment of A-10s in a variety of roles. Primary role was killing tanks in an interdiction role. The A-10 proved its versatility as a daytime SCUD hunter In Western Iraq suppressing enemy air defenses, attacking early warning radars, and even recorded 2 helicopter kills with its gun - the only gun kills of the war.

CLSS ABDR had a direct positive impact on the success of the war.  Here are some interesting statistics about the A-10s in the Gulf War:

  • 157 A-10/OA-10 aircraft participated from 5 different units
  • 144 A-10/OA-10 aircraft deployed into the AOR at a time - remaining aircraft were replacements at an off-site location
  • 148 total aircraft deployed to Saudi Arabia
  • 8,077 sorties flown by the A-10
  • 95/7% Mission Capable rate maintained - 5% higher than peacetime rates
  • 16.6% Sortie Rate - highest sortie rate of any USAF aircraft during the Gulf War
  • 783,514 rounds of 30MM Armor Piercing Incendiary (API) munitions (penetrator slug) fired from the GAU-8/A Avenger, 30mm Cannon
  • 259 Tons Depleted Uranium (DU) expended 
  • A single AGM-65 Maverick IIR (imaging infrared radar) missile would destroy an Iraqi tank - $70,000 Maverick equated to a $1.5 million T-72 tank.
  • Iraq was the 4th largest army in the world. The Maverick, an older system which had been continually modified to keep pace with modern war, played a large part in the destruction of that significant military force.

Iraq Assets Destroyed by A-10's During the Gulf War

  • 987 tanks destroyed
  • 2 Helicopters (air-to-air aircraft) kills with the GAU-8A 30mm Avenger cannon: 6 February 1991 by Capt. Bob Swain in 77-0205 of the 706th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 926th Tactical Fighter Group "Cajuns" from New Orleans Louisiana and the second by Capt Todd "Shanghai" Sheehy in 81-0964 with the 511th TFS "Vultures" out of RAF Alcombury United Kingdom.
  • 501 Armor Personnel Carriers (APC) destroyed
  • 249 Command Posts (CP) destroyed
  • 11 Frog missile launchers destroyed
  • 281 Military structures destroyed
  • 96 Radar installations destroyed
  • 72 Bunkers destroyed
  • 9 SAM sites destroyed
  • 8 Fuel tanks destroyed
  • 2,000 other military vehicles
  • 1,306 trucks
  • 53 SCUD missiles and launchers
  • 10 aircraft on the ground destroyed
  • Suppressed enemy air defenses
  • Attacked early warning radars

Most Recognizable & Feared Aircraft

Interviews with captured Iraqi military personnel underscored the overall effectiveness of the A-10, a seemingly ubiquitous threat, that delivered its weapons with deadly accuracy.

According to an Iraqi captain captured by American forces on 24 February 1991, the single most recognizable and feared aircraft at low level was the A-10. Not only did the actual bombing run of the A-10 evoke terror, but also the plane's ability to loiter around a target area prior to its attack caused additional anxiety, since Iraqi soldiers were unsure of the chosen target.

Many Damages: Approx 70 A-10 aircraft suffered some type of battle damage during Desert Storm. Many of the damages were undocumented cases of relatively minor problems. Some were even caused by their own aircraft such as a bomb lanyard slapping a wing flap, or a bomb fragment flying up and embedding into it's engine cowling. But most was caused by small arm fire and surface to air missiles.

We had put together "Quick Fix" teams to deal with all these damages. At first we would go out to the revetment the aircraft parked in after returning from a mission, and give it a quick once over inspection for any damage. However, with the large number of minor damages we were finding, this process soon turned into tertiary inspections performed out at EOR itself, which gave us time to radio ahead for a Quick Fix team to be waiting for the aircraft to park.

I remember too many nights out at EOR, waiting in the EOR tent, warming up MRE's on the light-all engine, and hoping we didn't find too much big damage. It was an excellent spot to be in to watch Scud missiles as they flew over... hopefully over that is.