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Quoting ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II#Gulf_War_and_Balkans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thun

Quoting ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II#Gulf_War_and_Balkans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunde... "From the beginning of 2006 to October 2013, A-10s conducted 19 percent of CAS missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than the F-15E Strike Eagle and B-1B Lancer, but less than the 33 percent flown by F-16s." ...and... "The U.S. Army had expressed interest in obtaining some A-10s should the Air Force retire them" I am not sure why SAMs aren't the threat to the A-10s that they were to Soviet helicopters in Afghanistan. Maybe the Taliban can't afford them? Also SAMs require training and degrade quickly if not maintained.

tyingq 6y ago
There's a couple of pages that are pretty comprehensive lists of aircraft lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both have tables near the bottom. If it's accurate, one A-10 was shot down by a SAM in Iraq, and that was the only A-10 combat loss across both conflicts. Iraq: https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_and_accidents_during_the_Iraq_War https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_... Afghanistan: https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Coalition_aircraft_losses_in_Afghanistan https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Coalition_aircraft_l...
- rjsw 6y ago
  So many A-10s were damaged in Iraq that they were withdrawn from combat.
  - rfreytag 6y ago
    Can you cite your source? https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_and_accidents_during_the_Iraq_War https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_... ... says only one A-10 was lost during the conflict.
    - tyingq 6y ago
      I believe he's talking about damaged aircraft that made it home. The list I posted is aircraft that were literally shot down.
- ckozlowski 6y ago
  It's a little misleading, though it compliments the A-10. The A-10 was designed knowing it was going to get shot at and take hits. It doesn't have the speed other craft do, though it was somewhat underestimated just how many hits it'd take. All of those redundancies and protections are designed to protect the pilot and save the aircraft. However, an A-10 doesn't have to be shot down in order to be considered a "mission loss", which is what would happen. A damaged aircraft is no longer mission effective, as the pilot is now focusing everything on keeping it airworthy and getting it back to base. So as one of the other posters indicated, while many wern't a total lost, many were damaged, and either had to abort or cut short their mission as a result. From a sortie effectiveness perspective, that's the same result as a downed plane. https://baloogancampaign.com/2015/02/02/10-future-us-close-air-support/ https://baloogancampaign.com/2015/02/02/10-future-us-close-a...
greedo 6y ago
The SAMs used against the HIND in Afghanistan were Stingers that have smaller warheads. The Hind, while well armored compared to other helicopters, is much more vulnerable than the A-10. For example, an A-10 can lose an engine and still make it home. If a Hind loses a rotor, it's probably dead. And the real issue is whether the A-10 can survive against a near peer like Russia or China. Considering that in the late 70's the life expectancy of an A-10 over the Fulda Gap was measured in single digit sorties, expecting them to survive today against modern SAMs (both radar guided and infrared) is unrealistic. CAS in bush country like Iraq/Afghan is much better performed by fast jets that can respond quickly with a JDAM or SDB.

tyingq 6y ago

There's a couple of pages that are pretty comprehensive lists of aircraft lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both have tables near the bottom. If it's accurate, one A-10 was shot down by a SAM in Iraq, and that was the only A-10 combat loss across both conflicts. Iraq: https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_and_accidents_during_the_Iraq_War https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_... Afghanistan: https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Coalition_aircraft_losses_in_Afghanistan https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Coalition_aircraft_l...

rjsw 6y ago
So many A-10s were damaged in Iraq that they were withdrawn from combat.
- rfreytag 6y ago
  Can you cite your source? https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_and_accidents_during_the_Iraq_War https://military.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_... ... says only one A-10 was lost during the conflict.
  - tyingq 6y ago
    I believe he's talking about damaged aircraft that made it home. The list I posted is aircraft that were literally shot down.
ckozlowski 6y ago
It's a little misleading, though it compliments the A-10. The A-10 was designed knowing it was going to get shot at and take hits. It doesn't have the speed other craft do, though it was somewhat underestimated just how many hits it'd take. All of those redundancies and protections are designed to protect the pilot and save the aircraft. However, an A-10 doesn't have to be shot down in order to be considered a "mission loss", which is what would happen. A damaged aircraft is no longer mission effective, as the pilot is now focusing everything on keeping it airworthy and getting it back to base. So as one of the other posters indicated, while many wern't a total lost, many were damaged, and either had to abort or cut short their mission as a result. From a sortie effectiveness perspective, that's the same result as a downed plane. https://baloogancampaign.com/2015/02/02/10-future-us-close-air-support/ https://baloogancampaign.com/2015/02/02/10-future-us-close-a...

greedo 6y ago

The SAMs used against the HIND in Afghanistan were Stingers that have smaller warheads. The Hind, while well armored compared to other helicopters, is much more vulnerable than the A-10. For example, an A-10 can lose an engine and still make it home. If a Hind loses a rotor, it's probably dead. And the real issue is whether the A-10 can survive against a near peer like Russia or China. Considering that in the late 70's the life expectancy of an A-10 over the Fulda Gap was measured in single digit sorties, expecting them to survive today against modern SAMs (both radar guided and infrared) is unrealistic. CAS in bush country like Iraq/Afghan is much better performed by fast jets that can respond quickly with a JDAM or SDB.