While we wait for some official footage of the A-10s at work in Iraq, here’s a clip where you can hear and see the Air Force “Hogs” in action.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces reportedly broke Islamic State siege of Iraq’s Mount Sinjar, freeing thousands of members of the Yazidi minority who were trapped there since August.
At min. 1:38 of the following footage released by Kurdish authorities you’ll see an A-10 flying high over the Peshmerga fighters east of Mount Sinjar moving in trucks and armoured personnel carriers.
Then, at min. 1:20 of the video below you will hear the unmistakable sound of the GAU-8 Avenger a 30 mm hydraulically driven seven-barrel Gatling-type cannon of the A-10 aircraft belonging to the 163rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron “Blacksnakes”, part of the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard, based at Fort Wayne, Indiana, currently deployed to Ahmed al Jaber airbase, in Kuwait.
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Little official information about the A-10 involvement in war on ISIS has been released so far. We know the Warthogs are being used in Iraq and not in Syria, a sign that the Pentagon probably considers Syrian air defense systems a lethal threat to the aircraft or that A-10s are not dispatched where they can’t get TACP (Tactical Air Control Party) support to conduct Close Air Support.
H/T to Save the A-10 page for the heads-up
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
