Bay-class support ship RFA Cardigan Bay and US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts, also known as Warthogs, joined forces in an exercise dubbed Neptune’s Kilt.
The Royal Navy’s press release reads, “On the left a Bay-class support ship. On the right, a US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt making a pass as British and American forces combine for training in the Gulf.”
RFA Cardigan Bay, along with Royal Navy minehunters Middleton, Chiddingfold and Bangor, led the training mission. The team-up exercise with the US Air Force’s 75th Air Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, consisting of four A-10 Thunderbolts, was primarily focused on dealing with mines.
“The qualities which make the A-10 such a renowned tankbuster – manoeuvrability at low speeds/altitude, highly accurate weapons-delivery involving a varied payload of bombs, missiles, rockets and guns, the ability to ‘loiter’ for a long time and a lethal payload of guns, bombs – make the battle-hardened jet capable of providing air-to-surface support over the waves,” explains the press release.
The operation, which lasted for twelve days, was built on the lessons learned from previous exercises with French, British and US navies. During this exercise, the forces faced simulated ‘hostile forces’ and mines in key sea routes. Alongside the main operation, the forces also dealt with mock ‘enemy’ vessels and further challenges from the Warthogs.
Training also extended to the future leaders of the US Navy, with six midshipmen from the US Naval Academy participating. They worked and lived alongside British sailors, gaining insight into the daily routines and workings of the Royal Navy.
Officer Cadet Sam Clyburn, working alongside the US trainees, stated, “I really enjoyed working with the US midshipmen. They had a good attitude and seemed to really enjoy their time with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.”
Commander Richard Hurman, who was in charge of the operation, hailed Neptune’s Kilt a success. He said, “The operation was a great success and proved the UK and US can operate within a combined Task Group to deliver cohesive mine warfare operations, while reassuring our regional partners.”
You gotta love that aircraft (sorry flying gun)- if only for the psychological impact alone.
So long as it doesn’t fire the gun near me. It has a bit of a bad friendly fire record.
Well it is American after all….
The acceptable deviation for rounds on target is measured in bus lengths, that’s “not great” even by American standards.
Gives an insight into possible tactics on mine clearance once they are mapped.
You could clear old school near surface mines pretty quickly with that approach.
Hmmm…intriguing demo, given USAF decision to begin retirement process of A -10. Rearguard action to convince the bureaucracy to retain some residual capability? Demo of capability for benefit of potential future donee nation(s)? Curiouser and curiouser…🤔
Pierre Spray and John Boyd rising from the grave to fight one last desperate action defending the “low tech” (no longer low tech because of the massive upgrade program) A-10 before moving on to claim they also designed the XF-23 even though the process started after they where dead and buried.
😁
Now that would put a good few holes in a ship.Never knowing A10s to Exercise with ships before
Very efficient for dealing with boat swarms…..
I’d never heard of a maritime role either…..
Fearsome aircraft.
A relative when he was very young thought A10s flew out of a wood shed next to his house, he’s now 51! He lived in south Herefordshire at the time and it was a regular flying area for the type back then. It’s an old aeroplane and still in US service and if it had flown with the RAF it would have been scrapped years ago.
It won’t be around for long based on the noises in the US, many in the USAF want it retired to free up funds for sexy multirole aircraft. Multirole is overrated to me as its not used as the force multiplier it should be. Its an excuse for lower numbers leaving not enough airframes to fulfil any of the roles properly. Look at the state of the RAF, Typhoon entered service and its a great aircraft in fairness. But, and a big but, in pathetically low numbers. Unless air defence is compromised at a stroke the RAF lost credible close… Read more »
You can do CAS with other aircraft. Not as sexy because they are not low level enough for the troops to see them. But better value for money all round.
Aircraft numbers would be low anyway. Typhoon being a Multirole aircraft offers lots of flexibility, e.g. 7 Typhoon squadrons defending Britain is nearly the same number of fighter squadrons defending Britain in the 1980s.
Except at the end of the eighties the RAF had thirty odd squadrons of multi role aircraft plus assorted AAM batteries. The RAF now has the or soon will have the smallest fight force of any of our major allies. That will soon include the like of Sweden.
Im sure we can Top Trump Sweden on Chinnooks 😃 but seriously if you work out the most likely threats to UK Airspace (Cruise Missiles ) we have the means to protect it from both here and abroad.If the threat level escalates to ICBM/IRBM and Hypersonics no amount of Typhoon or F35b will be much use anyway.
For that matter the beer is a lot cheaper too.🍺😋. More seriously if anybody goes nuclear we have all lost. The whole planet.
I have to agree with you Marked regarding overall numbers. I get it that kit today is very expensive so numbers are bound to decline over time – even the US has experienced that. However, the UK Armed Forces have contracted at an alarming rate. We now have so few planes (of all types), helicopters, tanks, artillery pieces, ships, submarines and ammunition stockpiles that we have to ask ourselves how long we could realistically last in a full on peer vs peer fight. Now, I believe we have the finest men and women in uniform anywhere – period! However, they… Read more »
Upgrading the A-10 with modern avionics costs almost as much per unit as replacing it right now, and there’s only so much you can do. As a ground attack aircraft it’s not even that good anymore either (especially not if it’s not upgraded). Big Gun go “Brrrrr” is fine as long as the enemy doesn’t have SHORAD of any kind, but the moment it does the aircraft is extremely vulnerable. Which is why even in the 90’s it had to fly as a missile truck and rely on other aircraft with better sensors to call in it’s targets.
They actually flew out of an airbase near me in Germany when Iwas growing up.
Not wood sheds though 😛
Not many tanks to bust out there… curious one!
Just thinking that if they attached the Israeli sharpshooter system to that gun, would save a lot of ammunition.
Brrrrrrrrrrt
That was from a few weeks ago.
The USAF has been flying F15Es for a while armed up the ying yang for Anti boat jobs. They where flying around with CBUs to spread the love around any swarms, Paveways and AAMRAM & Sidewinder for Drones.
A10 Thunderbolt-yet another American icon! Off subject and hard to admit given my criticism of the Mail Online’s Defence reporting, but there was a brilliant article on Polish re-armament in yesterdays edition-well worth a read!
It’s been my point all along not forgetting the workshare of course! “From South Korea alone, the Poles are buying 1,000 (yes 1,000!) K2 main battle tanks, 673 K9 self-propelled howitzers and 48, allowing it to junk (or give to Ukraine) what’s left of its Soviet-era air force. Poland is now the biggest importer of South Korean military hardware in the world. But the spending spree doesn’t stop there. Poland is also spending more than $6 billion on 366 American Abrams tanks, including 250 of the latest, state-of-the-art model (the M1A2). Combined with its Korean armour, Poland will boast a… Read more »
I thought they had scrapped the A10 years ago?
No, they’ve been wanting to ages, but the aircraft has a huge cult following thanks to the “reformist” fighter plane mafia that pushed it constantly, so it kind of hangs on. Instead the Airforce invested in a massive sensor upgrade program that, iirc, came in at like 70million USD per air-frame upgraded. Anyway, it’s still hanging on, but probably not for very much longer. I’d almost suggest getting some Ukranian pilots trained on them and get rid of them that way, rather than just scrapping them, but I don’t think they’d do very well in a SHORAD heavy environemnt like… Read more »