A-10 pilots guard ground forces

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Andrew Gates
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  As ground forces travel throughout Afghanistan, they can rest assured there is somebody available to watch over their shoulders.

Actually, two somebodies: a flight of two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, often known as Warthogs, regularly keep watch over the countryside and ground troops.

While deployed to Afghanistan, A-10 pilots fly close-air support missions, said Capt. Neal, an A-10 pilot with the 355th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron here. (His last name is omitted for security reasons.)

The squadron’s pilots fly two types of CAS missions in Afghanistan. One is supporting a specific request for a mission.

“This type of mission could include convoy escorts or cover for troops visiting a compound or village,” said Captain Neal who is deployed from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

The other mission is similar, except the pilots do not have a specific target.

“In one of these missions, we take off and head to an area and stand by,” said Capt. Gage, another 355th EFS pilot. “If someone needs our assistance, we’ll get the call to respond.”

Often, the pilots get a call from ground forces who have either seen or been attacked by enemy forces. This is referred to as a “troops-in-contact” situation.

“They’ll give us the information we need to respond, and we’ll start heading in their direction,” said Captain Gage, who is also from Eielson AFB. “We have to prioritize right then -- sort a lot of information out in a hurry. We have to decide if we need to refuel from a tanker before we respond, or after, if the situation is urgent. We become experts in fuel management.”

The call can come in from any ground forces, said Captain Neal, who has responded to calls from German, British, Canadian and Dutch forces as well as U.S. Marines and Soldiers.

“Knowing we’re up there does a whole lot to help the ground forces,” he said. “Sometimes, it gets tedious for us, but at those times, I think of what our presence provides, and I know that we’re helping.”

The pilots fly at the most once a day and usually once every other day. They also work on other duties such as coordinating support for the pilots in the air.

Most of the missions the pilots face are preplanned. Ground forces that need support fill out a request and send it through the Combined Air Operations Center where the support request gets approved or disapproved, Captain Neal said.

Once the aircraft takes off, the pilot contacts the joint terminal-attack controller, who is embedded in the ground forces.

“The (controller) is the mouthpiece of the ground commander,” Captain Neal said. “We get the ground commander’s intent from them.”

“We need certain information to accurately support a fight,” Captain Gage said. “The (controller) helps us know where the friendly and enemy forces are, and gives us all the information that we need to make sure we protect our forces and provide cover for them.”

Once the ground and air forces have established contact, the team performs the mission.

During convoy escort missions, for example, the ground forces want the A-10 pilots doing reconnaissance overhead as long as possible, Captain Neal said.

“We’re looking for suspicious activity. We make our presence known when we’re escorting them,” he said.

The support the A-10 pilots provide if they need to fire weapons is extremely effective.

“On one of my convoy-escort missions, I was flying directly overhead when the Marines I was escorting got ambushed from a ridge,” Captain Gage said. “I talked to one of the Marines to find out where the attack was coming from, then [I] flew lower to identify the friendly forces. When I saw the enemy forces and started shooting at them, the Marines stopped taking fire.”

The key to the A-10 pilots’ success is the coordination with the controllers, Captain Neal said.

“We cannot (drop) ordnance without them,” Captain Neal said. “They are our liaison with the guys on the ground and more importantly, they are our eyes and ears on the ground.”

He described a recent interdiction mission -- one where the planes were attacking a specified target.

“My wingman and I were told to attack two radio towers, as long as we could positively identify them, which was a difficult job since each tower was about 10-feet tall. The (controller) did a superb job,” Captain Neal said. “He directed me into the area. Once I got close, I was able to see the towers. I put a laser on the target, and my wingman dropped two laser-guided bombs on the towers.”

Being ready for ongoing operations in Afghanistan took a lot of training. The pilots said the 60,000 square mile range complex at Eielson helped them extensively before coming here.

“We were able to work with the same (controllers there) that we are working with here. It’s great,” Captain Neal said.

Moreover, the pilots said they were able to use the targets on the Kansas-sized range to help prepare for various missions here.

“Some of the structures they’ve built on the range are outstanding for urban combat,” Captain Neal said. “When we support a village visit or a compound takedown, the villages look very similar to what we’ve practiced on.”

Captain Gage said training on the Alaska range allowed him to perform a key mission in Afghanistan.

“The first time I shot a Maverick was on the Alaska range three weeks before I deployed,” he said. “I was able to get some great training with it before I left.

That Maverick training helped Captain Gage complete a mission the A-10 is renowned for -- that of a tank killer.

“We got a request to take out some tanks,” he said. We went on the mission, and there were two (Russian-built) tanks out in the open. We shot two Mavericks -- I did a pass and hit one, and then my wingman came in and shot the other tank.”

But the training is most effective when dealing with the uncertainty and rapidly changing conditions in a conflict.

“You have to sort things out in a hurry,” Captain Gage said. “When you get the call [while] in the air, you have to determine how long you can help [and] how soon they need ordnance. The response could be anywhere, and you want to be effective in a short amount of time. That’s when your training kicks in, and it all seems to work out.”