The 30 mm cannon an A-10 It can fire almost 4,000 projectiles per minute and its sound is so characteristic that soldiers identify it before even seeing the plane coming. In fact, for decades it has been one of the most recognizable symbols of air support in combat, although its withdrawal had already been decided.
The war in Iran has resurrected it.
Which means the return of the A-10. At this moment there are dozens of A-10s that have put heading to the Middle Eastand among military analysts that can only be due to one thing: that the United States has rescued its most “brute” plane for a mission that it seems impossibleand that points directly to a change in the nature of war.
Because the Warthog It is not an aircraft designed for clean campaigns from high altitudes or for technological wars at a distance, but rather for flying low, “dirty” and shoot a few meters of the enemy supporting troops in direct contact. His massive deploymentalso in the twilight of its operational life, suggests that Washington is no longer thinking only about degrading Iranian capabilities from the air, but in scenarios where there will be soldiers on the ground who will need close, constant and brutal coverage.
Distances in war. Hours before the deployment was known, they went viral some images of A-10s making unusually long strafing passes in Iraq (of more than 9 seconds), which gave an idea that they are not a technical anecdote, but rather a clue to what is changing on the battlefield.
This type of use (long, less precise and unusual shots) only makes sense for dispersed, dynamic and close targets, as groups of combatantsnot infrastructure. That is, scenarios where the plane acts almost like aerial artillery in direct support of troops, reinforcing the idea that the conflict is evolving towards more chaotic, closer and less controlled confrontations.
What the A-10 fits with. It we count yesterday. At the same time that these planes arrive, the United States does not stop to accumulate troopsspecial forces and logistics capabilities in the region, preparing operations that would no longer be only aerial but also incursions on the ground.
The options being considered (from assaults on coastal installations to the taking of strategic enclaves like Kharg Island or missions for capture nuclear material) fit perfectly with the type of support that offers the A-10: close, persistent coverage designed to protect soldiers in high-risk situations. The plane thus appears as the missing piece to complete a hybrid war scenario that mixes air attacks with limited but intense ground operations.
The strategic contradiction. All this occurs in parallel to a political speech from Washington increasingly contradictorywhere there is talk of ending the war in weeks while deployments are prepared that point just in the opposite direction.
The possibility of closing the conflict without reopening the Strait of Hormuz reveals that the United States wants to limit its involvement, but the media accumulation (troops, drones, electronic warfare and now A-10) indicates that it is preparing for escalation if negotiations fail. In other words, we are facing a strategy that tries to keep all options open, but that in practice increases the risk of a deeper and longer war.
Point of no return. If you like, on the whole, all the signs seem to converge in the same direction: the conflict is entering a phase where distance is no longer sufficient and direct contact points to be inevitable. The A-10, with its ability to operate at low altitude and punish nearby targets for long periods, symbolizes that shift toward a harsher warmore physical and more dangerous.
In any case, it does not guarantee the success for the United States (in fact, his presence suggests how difficult what lies ahead will be for his troops), but it does confirm that Washington is preparing for a scenario where missiles and bombings will no longer be enough, but rather the ground will have to be held under constant fire with those thousands of soldiers that have been arriving in the Middle East.
Image | US AIR, United States Air Force
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