Weapon of choice: technology upgrades give edge to ground-attack pilots.

The increasing amount of information in the cockpit has other implications for the A10s. "That's going to be one of our biggest challenges--how do we decipher all that information and how do we relay that among the flight, so that everyone has that same amount of information," says Hannon. The A-10 is in the process of integrating with other digitally-equipped aircraft, such as the F-15E, the F-16 and the F-18. Because not all the aircraft communicate on the same data link system, the Air Force is fielding a ground-based computer system called the Gateway to act as a translator to patch communications through to all the systems.

In Iraq, the Air Force is about to complete the installation of the Gateway. The same capability in the fall will be fielded to the ground headquarters in Afghanistan, says Crowder. That will coincide with an active duty A-10C squadron's deployment into that theater, he adds.

For the JTACs on the ground, the Air Force is still on track to deploy the latest handheld version of the remotely operated video enhanced receiver, or ROVER, which allows them to view what the pilots are seeing in their targeting pods in real-time.

"The ability to share a video image dramatically improves our ability to do close-air support in general, and urban close-air support in particular," says Crowder. The urban environment is one of the most complex terrains that pilots must contend with in close-air support missions. Buildings look the same to a pilot flying at 15,000 feet. But with a video link, the pilot, the weapons officer and the JTAC can all share the same information and dramatically improve the speed and accuracy with which they call strikes on a particular target, he adds.

There have been cases in the wars where JTACs utilized targeting pod video feeds to help guide pilots to the enemy's exact location. In one particular instance, the JTAC directed a pilot to move his targeting pod one floor up a building and two windows to the right. "They put a Hellfire missile right through the window where he wanted to put it through, to where the sniper was," says Crowder.

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But pilots, like Hannon, who have recently flown in combat say they are finding that there aren't always JTACs on the ground with the troops they are supporting. In such cases, they are often communicating with an airman who is sitting at the ground tactical operations center watching video feeds coming in from drones. With the A-10C, the pilots can feed to that airman the video from their targeting pods, so that both are looking at the same picture and targets.

But, he points out, there is a shortage of targeting pods for the squadrons to train at home stations. The three A-10 squadrons at Davis-Monthan share four LITENING targeting pods.

"I can't maintain the proficiency and train my guys for the next fight with four targeting pods," he says.

There was only one targeting pod per flight during Kistler's deployment in 2004, so the flight lead would have the targeting pod and the wingman would not. But in 2005, every plane had a pod, says Hannon, who was deployed then. The C-model can accommodate both LITENING and Sniper pods and the squadron could get hand-me-down LITENING pods from those that transition to the Sniper pod.

The A-10C upgrades also add an element of stealth to the airplane. Because it can drop weapons from farther distances with the GPS-guided weapons capability, pilots say the reduced noise signature means enemies might not even know they've been targeted until they're hit.

Meanwhile, the Air Force continues to field more precise weapons. In the fall, it will deploy a new kind of bomb that doesn't discharge shrapnel. The focused lethality munition, or FLM, is filled with a dense inert metal explosive. Its shell is made of a composite material that disappears when the bomb explodes. As a result, blasts are confined to 30 meters. The weapon will be fielded initially on the small diameter bomb, the GDU-39.

"This technology will allow us to use a weapon with a far more precise effect so that we can create a far more localized impact," says Crowder.

The Air Force also is working to have the same technology incorporated into the standard 500-pound bomb. "That will allow us to get this technology into the field much more quickly."

The small diameter bomb, by contrast, is carried only on the F-15E.

"If we are forced to deploy weapons in the close-air support environment, we can do so more accurately and with more focused effects than we might have been able to just a few years ago," says Crowder.

While the A-10 can carry precision munitions, pilots still rely heavily upon its Gaffing gun. The GAU-8/A Avenger cannon fires 30 mm rounds at a rate of 60 rounds per second. To destroy a typical target requires between a half-second to two-second burst, regardless of the target's size, says Laughbanm. "This is the most powerful gun ever put on an airplane," he says.

In combat, a pilot may hit 10 different targets during a single sortie.

Crowder says the A-10 is the most accurate strafe platform in the Air Force inventory. Pilots say that the A-10C upgrades will make the gun even more precise.

During its deployment to Afghanistan in 2007, the 354th Fighter Squadron dropped more tonnage than any other squadron since Vietnam, says Hannon. It fired one million 30 mm rounds, says Crowder.

Despite those high numbers, the reality is that close-air support is significantly less kinetic, he adds. In 90 percent of the sorties, no weapons are dropped. Instead, A-10s are flying one of two missions: armed overwatch and armed reconnaissance.

In armed overwatch missions, warplanes fly above ground troops feeding them video and other data, and are ready to conduct traditional kinetic close-air support should the need arise. In armed reconnaissance missions, they scan the road ahead of a routine convoy to look for roadside bombs and other threats before ground forces move out.

"It's a more dynamic process than what people traditionally think of as CAS. There's a lot more intelligence sharing, passing video back and forth," says Crowder.

To teach pilots how to employ all the new technologies, the wing, which trains the Air Force's A-10 operators, has designed a course to help A-model aviators transition to the C-model.

They typically convert in four rides, says Kistler, who learned to fly the A-10A seven years ago and converted to the C-model a year ago. But most operators need another year or two to master the new technology. The plane itself is easy to fly, he says. "The toughest part is weapons employment."

Pilots can practice using the targeting pod in the cockpit simulator on base. For live training, they fly out to tactical ranges located 100 miles west of Tucson where they can practice dropping bombs, shooting the cannon and firing rockets. There are often JTACs on the ground learning to call in close-air support.

The A-10 pilots consider themselves the worldwide experts in the close-air support mission.

"Our goal in this community, in particular, is to not only do the mission well today, but to look forward into the future, to innovate, to take these weapons systems that are being added to the A-10 and find the best possible ways to use them," says Laughbaum.

Many of those innovations will come from the young pilots who are learning to fly the aircraft, he adds.

"They're the ones who are going to figure out and determine the full potential of this new weapons system. They will discover ways of employing this new weapons system that we haven't even thought of yet," he says.

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