In earlier wars, specialized tank killer aircraft (like the Ju-87G Stuka) were “easy meat” for enemy fighters, unless absolute air superiority could be assured. Thus there was considerable concern about the survivability of the relatively slow A-10 in contested air space. This fear has been greatly, if not completely alleviated by the results of Red Flag exercises, which have shown that the A-10, by virtue of its low-speed agility and inherent toughness, could potentially hold its own against aircraft of much greater raw performance.
In the first place, few high performance aircraft can even attempt to maneuver at the A-10’s preferred height of 100 feet; thus any attempt to engage with either IR or radar-homing missiles must be made in a “shoot-down” mode into severe ground clutter. While a few of the most modern aircraft have true look-down/shoot down capability, most do not; and even with look-down/shoot down capability, the probability of kill is reduced by as much as half. The A-10 can reduce this even further through the use of radar jamming and the release of chaff and flares. Gun attacks would be equally problematic, because the enemy fighter would have to make its pass in a very shallow dive to avoid flying into the ground.
Assuming that an enemy fighter did come down on the deck to dogfight the A-10, it would soon find that it had bitten off more than it could handle. For shear instantaneous turning performance at low speed and low altitude, nothing can match the A-10 (in its first turn towards the enemy—that is, before it 'bleeds off' its energy). For example, at 300 kts, the A-10 has an instantaneous turn rate of 25 deg/sec, and a turn radius of only 1,200 feet. At 150 kts, the instantaneous turn rate is reduced to 15 deg/sec., but the turn radius is also reduced to a mere 900 feet. Because of its low air speed, the A-10 can sustain very high turn rates without incurring the high g-loads associated with higher airspeeds, while conversely, high performance fighters such as the F-16, with higher wing loading and aerodynamics optimized for higher speeds, cannot match the A-10A’s turning performance without pulling much higher g-forces. <<see NOTE below>>
Tactically, this level of horizontal turning performance allows the A-10 to dodge air-to-air missiles and prevents enemy fighters from pulling sufficient lead for a guns attack. Conversely, the A-10 is able to put its nose on an attacking fighter very quickly indeed against any jet stupid enough to drop down to engage it. And while designed to punch holes in tank armor, the GAU-8 cannon could easily shred a thin-skinned fighter with one or two hits--a real deterrent to a persistent opponent. Since the mid-1980s, the A-10 has been wired to carry a twin AIM-9 Sidewinder launcher on one of the outboard pylons (the other usually carried an ECM pod), for primarily air-to-air attacks on enemy helos, and secondarily for counter-air defense. The all-aspect AIM-9L and -M models can engage targets approaching head on at ranges up to 10 n.mi. Thus, when bounced from the rear, an A-10 will typically break horizontally to force the (much faster) enemy fighter to overshoot. If the fighter is detected soon enough, the Warthog might even have a chance for a quick, head-on “lip shot”. If that missed, the A-10 could continue turning inside the fighter, taking snapshots with the GAU-8 until the enemy is either destroyed, discouraged, or out of fuel. Even when a fighter jet disengages, the A-10 can quickly reverse its turn for a snap Sidewinder shot at the receding enemy fighter, in the few seconds while it was still in range. It would require several very well piloted fighters to kill one A-10, and Warthogs typically fly in mutually supporting pairs; for instance, even while on landing approach, a wingman flies cover.
NOTE: I am anticipating a number of responses to this topic; to begin with, I have nothing against Viper drivers, or anyone else of the fighter jet community. Honest! The figures quoted here represent the instantaneous turn rate of the A-10A in the first turn towards an attacking (Falcon) jet; the reality of such an event is quite remote. Although the A-10 may enjoy the privilege of a higher g-force loading at a given lower velocity, it would lose any energy advantage against its opponent after the first or second pass. The tactics described here are for illustration of the potential turning ability against an unprepared jet opponent in a principally guns-only engagement. Several experienced aviators and others with better language skills than I helped to review drafts of this section… any confusion or errors that remain are my responsibility. <E Pak>
