Idaho’s Gowen Field in Boise has 22 A-10 Thunderbolt jets as part of the Air National Guard 124th Fighter Wing. Six of them are currently deployed to Qatar for exercises on close air-support, and Idaho’s congressional delegation wants to keep the deadly planes in the air.
The main weapon on an A-10, nicknamed “Warthog,” is a 30mm gatling gun mounted slightly off-center on the nose of the craft.
The GAU-8 gun fires armor-piercing depleted uranium and high-explosive incendiary rounds at the rate of nearly 4,000 rounds per minute from its seven barrels.
Each projectile weighs about 14 ounces and is fired from an aluminum shell case.
A single burst can shred tanks and other armored vehicles. Under the wings, it can hold cluster- and laser-guided bombs, and Maverick and Sidewinder missiles…