The A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single seating twin turbofan jet, that is used by the United States Air Force for close air support and ground attacks. The aircraft was first introduced and flown in 1972 by the manufacture Fairchild Republic. The cost for one A-10 Thunderbolt II is roughly, $18.8 million. There has been a total of 716 A-10 Thunderbolt II built in the span of 12 years. Moreover, the aircraft has a wingspan of 17.2 meters (57 feet and 6 inches), and a length of 16.16 meters (53 feet 4 inches). The height of the aircraft is just about, 4.42 meters tall (14 feet and 8 inches). The aircraft also weighs about 13,154kg (29,000lbs). The A-10 Thunderbolt II can also reach a ceiling level of roughly, 13,636 meters (45,000 feet). Additionally, the jet comes equipped with two General Electric TF34-GE100 turbofans that each produce 40.32kN of thrust (9,065lbs of thrust). In the same way, the jet can reach a top speed of 450mph or mach 0.75. On top of that, the jet has a range of about 2,580 miles without refueling and a fuel capacity of about 4985kg (11,000lbs). Even more, the A-10 Thunderbolt II has a payload capacity of about 7,257kg (16,000lbs). The aircraft also has multifarious amounts of armaments. For one, the jet can hold low and high drag bombs, incendiary cluster bombs, mine dispensing munitions, AIM-9 sidewinder missiles, 30mm GAU-8/A seven barrel gatling gun, AGM-65 Maverick missiles, infrared countermeasure flares, and many more. Moreover, this specific aircraft is very important to the United States Air Force due to the fact that the jet has an outstanding durability when on duty. For example, the aircraft comes equipped with 540kg (1,400lbs) of titanium armor to protect the flight-control system and the cockpit. The A-10 Thunderbolt II also comes equipped with a double-redundant hydraulic flight system. Which means if the hydraulics go bad then the pilot can switch over to essentially, “manual mode,” and fly the aircraft back to base safely. As of today, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is still an active military aircraft until further notice in 2021.
ROCKETS & PLANES 