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Look at Capabilities of A-10 Warthogs

Aired April 08, 2003 - 14:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, retired three-star General Claudia Kennedy, United States Army. Talking about that A-10 Warthog. First of all, as we look at the map here, generally they go flights of two shifts, flights of two, they cab be used as forward air controllers, designed primarily for the mission of close air support. It's got a big Gatling gun out the front and can carry all manner of missiles.
This, however, the kind of mission that the A-10s are flying, low altitude, broad daylight missions over a city that is not buttoned up by any stretch, very risky mission, isn't it?

GEN. CLAUDIA KENNEDY, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It could be risky except that they're not very strongly opposed.

O'BRIEN: Right and that's a key point. Now while the integrated anti-aircraft artillery's network, if you will, is now working, it doesn't take much if you've got a shoulder fired, what the U.S. inventory will call a Stinger, which is a heat seeker, while in the former Soviet Union they called it the SA-3.

Let's take a look at an animation. This is the A-10 Warthog as it lifts off. This airplane, and let's freeze it right there. I want to talk to you just a second this, if you could freeze it. Typically, the shoulder fired missiles, of course they could put in anybody's basement or garage.

Basically, this is a heat-seeking missile which detects the output of those twin turbo fans on that A-4. So what's difficult about that is unlike a radar-guided missile -- let's advance the tape -- unlike a radar-guided missile, the pilot doesn't hear an audible sound indicating he's been locked on.

Now, stop it right there if you can, Scotty. Take a look at what's happened here. This is what's key. It's routine part of an A- 10 mission. They come in low, they drop their ordnance and then they drop off these flares. You notice the flares. And the idea is, remember this missile is going for heat. And the idea is to spoof the missile into thinking that's the target as opposed to the hot turbo fans. Generally that works, sometimes it doesn't, do it?

KENNEDY: That's right.

O'BRIEN: Now, let's continue on and we'll show how this comes to its conclusion. In that case, everything worked fine. I just am curious as we go on here, and this is -- kind of drags on and there are more of these high-risk missions, should we expect more of this kind of thing?

KENNEDY: Well I think we should and I think this is an aircraft that's well-suited to this purpose. It is designed to lawyer (ph) low and operate at low speeds, low altitude. And it has a very good capability to get home if it is hit.

O'BRIEN: And it flies no more than about 400 miles an hour, very maneuverable, very good at low altitude. And the cockpit is encased in titanium to protect the pilot. That's a pretty interesting thing.

Let's look at the SA-3 quickly. We'll tell you a little bit about that and what the range and capabilities are. The SA-3 is one of the shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles built originally by the Soviet Union. Pretty good range on it, 16 miles. Can be carried on a wheeled vehicle.

It is -- this one actually is radar homing. We're probably talking about an SA-2 would be a heat seeker. In any case, there's a lot of this, even though that integrated network is no longer in operation, there's probably a lot of this, we can presume, still out there.

KENNEDY: There is.

O'BRIEN: All right. General Claudia Kennedy, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 8, 2003 - 14:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, retired three-star General Claudia Kennedy, United States Army. Talking about that A-10 Warthog. First of all, as we look at the map here, generally they go flights of two shifts, flights of two, they cab be used as forward air controllers, designed primarily for the mission of close air support. It's got a big Gatling gun out the front and can carry all manner of missiles.
This, however, the kind of mission that the A-10s are flying, low altitude, broad daylight missions over a city that is not buttoned up by any stretch, very risky mission, isn't it?

GEN. CLAUDIA KENNEDY, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It could be risky except that they're not very strongly opposed.

O'BRIEN: Right and that's a key point. Now while the integrated anti-aircraft artillery's network, if you will, is now working, it doesn't take much if you've got a shoulder fired, what the U.S. inventory will call a Stinger, which is a heat seeker, while in the former Soviet Union they called it the SA-3.

Let's take a look at an animation. This is the A-10 Warthog as it lifts off. This airplane, and let's freeze it right there. I want to talk to you just a second this, if you could freeze it. Typically, the shoulder fired missiles, of course they could put in anybody's basement or garage.

Basically, this is a heat-seeking missile which detects the output of those twin turbo fans on that A-4. So what's difficult about that is unlike a radar-guided missile -- let's advance the tape -- unlike a radar-guided missile, the pilot doesn't hear an audible sound indicating he's been locked on.

Now, stop it right there if you can, Scotty. Take a look at what's happened here. This is what's key. It's routine part of an A- 10 mission. They come in low, they drop their ordnance and then they drop off these flares. You notice the flares. And the idea is, remember this missile is going for heat. And the idea is to spoof the missile into thinking that's the target as opposed to the hot turbo fans. Generally that works, sometimes it doesn't, do it?

KENNEDY: That's right.

O'BRIEN: Now, let's continue on and we'll show how this comes to its conclusion. In that case, everything worked fine. I just am curious as we go on here, and this is -- kind of drags on and there are more of these high-risk missions, should we expect more of this kind of thing?

KENNEDY: Well I think we should and I think this is an aircraft that's well-suited to this purpose. It is designed to lawyer (ph) low and operate at low speeds, low altitude. And it has a very good capability to get home if it is hit.

O'BRIEN: And it flies no more than about 400 miles an hour, very maneuverable, very good at low altitude. And the cockpit is encased in titanium to protect the pilot. That's a pretty interesting thing.

Let's look at the SA-3 quickly. We'll tell you a little bit about that and what the range and capabilities are. The SA-3 is one of the shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles built originally by the Soviet Union. Pretty good range on it, 16 miles. Can be carried on a wheeled vehicle.

It is -- this one actually is radar homing. We're probably talking about an SA-2 would be a heat seeker. In any case, there's a lot of this, even though that integrated network is no longer in operation, there's probably a lot of this, we can presume, still out there.

KENNEDY: There is.

O'BRIEN: All right. General Claudia Kennedy, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com