Upgraded A-10s go to the head of the class

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  The A-10 is like a fine wine. It gets better with age.

Brought into the Air Force inventory in 1975, the A-10 has gone through a host of upgrades, which has made it the frequent scourge of enemy ground forces and the airborne weapon of choice for United States and coalition ground troops.

The latest upgrade to the 442nd Fighter Wing's A-10s, installing "smart" multifunction color display (SMFCD) data-link systems in the cockpit, make the battle-tested aircraft even more lethal, as they vastly increase communications and awareness for pilots.

The upgraded A-10s are known as the A-10 A-plus models.

The installations began in September 2006 and wrapped up just a few weeks ago. The last of the wing's 26 aircraft, recently gained from the Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Fighter Wing, is being sent to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., for the installation.

The 442nd FW will gain a twenty-seventh aircraft - from the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Fighter Wing - in February, according to Maj. Travis Caughlin, deputy commander of the 442nd Maintenance Group, but it already has the SMFCD.

The upgrades come just in time as the wing prepares for its third deployment to Afghanistan later this year.

The Airmen of the 442 Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Specialist Flight, working with a contract team to do the installations, were wizards, patiently making their way through a maze of mechanical and electronic unknowns. They agreed their efforts were crucial for the future of the A-10 and for their own expertise.

"We had to help (the contract team) get up to speed," said Senior Master Sgt. Dennis Lyon, flight chief. "We did all the preparation and the follow-on checks and we'd work out issues as they arose.

"This is a major upgrade," he said. "It'll keep the A-10 in the inventory longer."

"It's been a heck of a project from the beginning and there's been a tremendous learning curve," said Master Sgt. John Mallas, an avionics specialist with the flight. "A lot of times we've just sat down and figured out different capabilities. When this stuff first came out, we had no idea on how it worked."

"This is a new system," Major Caughlin said. "It's really crucial to the capability of the aircraft. (The flight's Airmen) clearly like what they do, though. I think they have a strange enjoyment. It's impressive to watch it."

The flight's ingenuity and patience has benefited not only the wing, but other A-10 units. As problems and questions arose and were worked out, their findings and troubleshooting procedures were written down by Raytheon (the manufacturer of the SMFCD) representatives to help other units when they meet the same obstacles.

Maj. Caughlin said Air Force Reserve Command wanted the 442nd and the A-10 unit at Barksdale to do the upgrades at the same time, but the higher-ups were finally convinced that a wiser path to pursue would be to let the Whiteman reservists have a go at it. In the end, that paid off.

"We're helping Barksdale," Sergeant Mallas said. "They just started and we've been talking to them a lot. We did a lot of ground work and they can call us if they have questions."

"We couldn't do this without the technical abilities of our workforce," Sergeant Lyon said. "It's been a baptism by fire. If there were issues, it was sometimes something you looked at initially and thought, 'I don't know if we can get there from here.'"

But they did get from "there" to "here" and everyone, especially pilots, will reap the benefits.
"This increases our combat capability," said Capt. Brian Leiter, chief of mission planning for the 303rd Fighter Squadron. "It brings us more into the twenty-first century.

"This (system) integrates our navigational system, our bombing computer, our targeting pod and our heads-up display to work together to more effectively target the enemy," he said.

"The biggest thing it does is it links us up with other platforms and other fighters," Captain Leiter said. "It's a network structure. You can see other airframes on a network kind of like on a scope. It allows you to securely pass information back and forth without radio transmissions and allows us to see other airframes.

"I can pass targeting information to other assets," he said. "Let's say I've got bad guys in my targeting pod. I can throw out a sensor point of interest over the data-link that other data-link members can see on their screens, and other friendlies up to 300 miles away can pick up. You can quickly identify a threat or a target. It gives us a moving map that goes down to one-meter, high-resolution imagery."

Upgrades to the wing's A-10s won't stop with the SMFCD, however. This summer should see the start of the conversion process to the "C" model. Done at the A-10 depot at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, these upgrades will enhance the capabilities of the avionics and countermeasure systems, according to Sergeant Lyon.

"At Hill, they'll pick up another multifunction display system," he said. "There'll be changes in weapons delivery characteristics and in avionics systems. They'll totally redo the cockpit display. There'll be digital versus analog displays. There's a missile warning system. They'll be able to drop GPS-guided bombs and there's a missile-warning system."

"It's never ending," Sergeant Lyon said. "It's a continuous upgrade to the aircraft to improve its ability to fight and survive. Every time you turn around, there's another upgrade to keep the A-10 flying."

"Pressure is perceived," Sergeant Lyon said. "It isn't so much pressure as much as it's a tremendous amount of work. We've had our frustrations."

"Our operations tempo isn't getting any slower," Sergeant Lyon said. "But we'll continue to produce what we need to and do it safely and correctly. We're going to press on with pride."

"We helped ourselves and we helped (Barksdale)," Maj. Caughlin said.

"The comfort our ground troops have from the A-10 and the fear it instills in the enemy is tremendous," Major Caughlin said. "Soldiers and Marines really like that support close in. The B-52s can do close air support with JDAMs (joint direct attack munitions), but that doesn't give ground troops the same sense of security they have with the A-10. The show of force it brings and the psychological impact it makes can't be underestimated."

"The sound of freedom to ground troops is the sound of an A-10 coming to provide cover for them," Sergeant Lyon said.

"I'm extremely impressed with our folks," Major Caughlin said. "This was a lot of work to do, but their ability to identify and correct problems to the depth they have is just very impressive. We ironed out a lot of problems here."