FRIDAY FOTO (December 27, 2019)

Symmetry.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Greg Nash)

A 25th Aircraft Maintenance Unit maintainer cleans an A-10C Thunderbolt II canopy, on December 11, 2019, at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea.

Longtime readers of the 4GWAR Blog will remember your editor has been a fan of the Cold War-Era tank busters since seeing half a dozen of them land while waiting to take off aboard a commercial airliner at Tucson International Airport.

The A-10s, better known as “Warthogs” because of their homely appearance, heavy armor and fierce attack capabilities, are designed to provide close support to infantry and destroy enemy tanks.

Earlier in the decade, the A-10s were endangered by budget constraints. Air Force and Pentagon leaders said they could save $3.5 billion over five years by retiring the 300-plus A-10 fleet rather than upgrade it. But Congress rejected those plans and instead approved initial funding of wing replacements needed to keep about a third of the nation’s 281 A-10s flying until at least 2030.

The photo below shows an A-10 with the Idaho Air National Guard about to be refueled in the air by a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the Utah Air National Guard. One can see the A-10’s 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun, located in front of, and below, the cockpit, like a cigar clenched in the teeth,

This all might seem an unlikely topic in the season of “Peace on Earth,” but we are reminded that there are a lot of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who are still walking around because an A-10 was overhead and provided close air support when the ground troops came under attack.

(U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Taylor Walker)