MILAVIA > Aircraft > A-10 > History Last updated: 15 August 2016
A-10 Thunderbolt II

A-10 Thunderbolt II history

under construction

The first production A-10A was delivered to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., in October 1975.

It was designed specially for the close air support mission and had the ability to combine large military loads, long loiter and wide combat radius, which proved to be vital assets to the United States and its allies during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Noble Anvil. In the Gulf War, A-10s had a mission capable rate of 95.7 percent, flew 8,100 sorties and launched 90 percent of the AGM-65 Maverick missiles.






A-10 camoflage trials


Two seat A-10 prototype

US Air Force picture
A-10 over Kuwaiti oil fields


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Su-25 'Frogfoot'
First Published: 10 November 2002
Last Revised: 21 March 2006
Last Modified: 15 August 2016

Update log:
15 Aug 2016 Layout upgrade