World

Bird’s Eye View: See What It’s Like to Fire the A-10’s Massive Cannon

Yet another video of the US’ A-10 Warthog surfaced on Monday showing exactly what it’s like to be in the pilot’s seat of the plane while firing the 20-foot-long GAU-8 Avenger Gatling-type gun.
Sputnik

In recent weeks videos have emerged showing what it's like to be on the business end of the Warthog's beer-bottle sized rounds made of depleted uranium as well, and showing a Taliban vehicle getting wrecked by a Warthog after carrying out an attack on Afghanis with heavy machine guns.

Now a video has joined the growing collection that gives viewers a glimpse from the pilot's perspective of the moment an A-10 unleashes its (in)famous "brrrrt" indicating the Avenger gun has fired. The rotary cannon fires a whopping 3,900 rounds per minute.

This US Air National Guard pilot was flying a mission during Operation Guard Blitz after taking off from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida on January 31.

Russian and US close air support aviation capabilities continue to serve important roles in air power projection, military observer Andrei Kotz recently outlined to Sputnik.

While aircraft like the A-10 Warthog and Su-25 Frogfoot are comparatively much slower, older aircraft, "the experience of the armed conflicts of the second half of the 20th century (and the first wars of the 21st) has actually demonstrated that these simple, slow and unpretentious aircraft are able to perform missions where much more advanced, expensive and modern aircraft have proven useless," Kotz noted.

Despite a lack of sophistication, Russia's Su-25, America's A-10, Brazil's EMB-314 Super Tucano and Europe's Franco-German Alpha Jet remain the four most potent close air support planes in the world, the analyst said.

Discuss