A-10 Warthog: 50 Facts About This Legendary Aircraft
The A-10 Warthog’s Gatlin Gun Is Large, Heavy And Powerful
The 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger rests in the front of the aircraft. The front landing gear retracts from under the wings in an offset position, with the rear wheels in line with the fuselage. This set up allows room for the massive weapon. The barrel of the GAU-8/A extends out from the nose of the A-10. It is the heaviest automatic cannon ever mounted on an aircraft.
The Gatling gun accounts for 16 percent of the A-10’s weight. For perspective, the weapon is larger than a Volkswagen bug. During maintenance, sometimes the technicians remove the gun from the aircraft. A support is wedged under the tail to keep the nose from tipping up. The GAU-8/A is manufactured to fire high explosive incendiary and armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds at a rate of 3,900 rounds per minute. These bullets are about the size of beer bottles. When pilots fire the Gatling gun, it heats up quickly and cannot fire for more than a few seconds at a time. Continuing to fire would overheat the barrel and render it ineffective.
The cannon also creates so much smoke while firing that it could choke out a jet engine. The engines, in original testing, could not get enough oxygen while the cannon were firing, so a unique combustion chamber was created to keep the engines running while the gun was firing. Lastly, the recoil from the cannon is so powerful that it affects the airplanes’ trajectory. Therefore, the GAU-8/A 30mm cannon was installed off-center slightly to offset that change caused by the recoil. With the weapon’s massive recoil offsetting the front landing gear from the center, it causes the A-10 Warthog to have an unequal turning radius. Turning right on the ground takes less distance than turning left. The Warthog gun makes a distinctive brrrrt sound when firing.