The A-10 Warthog never tried to impress anyone with looks. Good thing, because it couldn't; the plane looks as though it was assembled in a scrapyard during a bar fight.

And when things get serious, it's still one of the first aircraft anybody wants covering them overhead. Operation Epic Fury just drove the point home again, this time over the Red Sea. //

Built by Fairchild Republic, the A-10 exists for one purpose: to kill enemy threats close to American forces.

That mission hasn't changed since the 1970s, and no amount of PowerPoint presentation has replaced it. The aircraft was designed around the GAU-8 Avenger cannon, a 30 mm monster that roars like a lion and leaves fire in its wake like a dragon. Everything else on the plane exists to support that weapon and keep the pilot alive long enough to use it. //

The Warthog didn't just show up; it stayed, loitered, and delivered precise firepower where it mattered, when it mattered. Fast jets hit and leave, while the Warthog sticks around to make sure the job's finished. //

The operation also highlights a critical limitation in the current U.S. force structure. While fifth generation aircraft excel in penetrating defended airspace and striking fixed high value targets, they are not optimized for sustained engagement of numerous low value but operationally decisive targets such as fast attack craft or mobile launch teams. Epic Fury exposes this gap under real combat conditions and reinforces the need for platforms capable of persistent close engagement.

The Air Force keeps trying to retire it in favor of fifth-generation fighters. It sounds like a modern and efficient argument, but in reality, it keeps running into the same problem. The A-10 does a job no other aircraft on the planet handles as well as the Warthog does. //

AnonymousinIL
13 hours ago
It’s not pretty. It’s not ugly. It’s pretty ugly but very well suited for ground support. Fast movers say “my plane has a gun.” Hog drivers say “my gun has a plane.” //

anon-xzx7
13 hours ago
It would be a better plan to identify the generals who want to retire this magnificent aircraft and retire the generals. //

Dawgly One
14 hours ago
The Air Force wants to retire it SOOOOOO bad. You know who doesn’t want it retired? The Army and the Marines. The Army has begged the Air Force to give it to them, but they won’t, because it has jet engines and carries weapons. Clowns. Just give it up, and go do your fast mover stuff. //

David Lang
13 hours ago
Everyone over-estimates how many targets a fighter can take out, a F15 has ~900 rounds, a F 15, F18 has ~500 rounds, a F-25 has 180 rounds, an A-10 has 1150 rounds (and much more powerful rounds than any of the others). The Apache helicopter has a similar number of rounds as the A-10 (same caliber but less powerful)

The A-10 also has more weapons pylons to hang bombs/rockets/etc off of (and flying slower, it can use cheaper rockets rather than guided missiles and smart bombs)

so a single A-10 can take out more targets, armored or not (and many ships would count as armored, not because they specifically have armor, but just the amount of steel needed to hold the ship together in the face of an angry sea is what land vehicles would call armored)

The Air Force has been trying to get rid of them for decades, claiming that the new jets can do the job, but war after war the A-10s show they do a better job, and for less money.

Nowadays they are exclusively flown by National Guard units, so when you hear about them in a war zone, remember those pilots are taking time away from their job to do this. Their jobs are protected by law, but that doesn't get work projects done or earn promotions.