Small Wars Journal

Islamic State Fight Could Breathe New Life Into The A-10

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 2:36pm

Islamic State Fight Could Breathe New Life Into The A-10 by Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes

Months after staving off a trip to the boneyard, the embattled A-10 Thunderbolt II is headed to the Middle East where it could be used to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria.

An Indiana Air National Guard unit that flies the Cold War-era gunships, known as Warthogs, is planning to deploy about 300 airmen and an unknown number of its aircraft to the U.S. Central Command region early next month, says a Sept. 17 news release from the unit…

Designed to shoot Soviet tanks rolling across the open fields of Europe, the A-10 has been the primary aircraft for close air support of ground forces since the mid-1970s. Experts say that capability is well-suited to taking out ground targets in Iraq and Syria…

Read on.