Posted on 01/03/2019 4:54:12 AM PST by w1n1
on a Runaway Taliban Vehicle
You can run, but you can’t hide from an A-10 Thunderbolt II and its technological advanced GAU-8 30mm weapon system.
U.S. Air Forces Central Command released a un-classified footage of an engagement between an A-10 and what looks to be "a Taliban vehicle fleeing the scene of an attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan."
The short video display a light-colored car speeding down a dusty desert road only to be stopped by a hail storm of 30mm rounds from the A-10.
Zooming in on the stopped vehicle you can see four basketball-sized holes punched in the top of the vehicle before another wave of shells is applied for good measure.
Unfortunately, the video has no sound, but you can imagine the many “brrrt” pounding the vehicle. The A-10 armed with the General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30 mm hydraulically driven seven-barrel Gatling-type auto cannon. See the rest of A-10 Thunderbolt.
A pig flies, Warthog.
Islamo-headchopper runs.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
The machine shop that I worked in the late 70’s and early 80’s made components for the GAU-8. Glad to see they are still doing the job.
One, the A-10 was able to target and hit the vehicle while it was moving at a pretty good clip. It got 4 rounds in it, and it is somewhat smaller than a tank.
Two, even though the rounds are only 30mm it tore gaping, volley ball or basket ball sized holes in the vehicle. As near as we could determine last time we saw this - the extreme damage to the sheet metal was from the shockwave of the rounds. Fun stuff - as long as you're not on the receiving end...
that is definitely the van full of Libyans from back to the future...
More good English from the American Shooting Journal.
..bye bye..
wow... the guy sitting there thanking allah that he servived the first hit was rudely interrupted by the sloppy second rifling.
Aren’t the rounds explosive?
That ended well, I must say!
“...the many “brrrt” pounding the vehicle. The A-10 armed with...”
And still more.
That was purdy.
Send the A-10 to the southern border. Several strafing runs should slow down the invasion.
Only 30mm? 30mm is 1.25 inches in diameter! Furthermore it's a cannon round and it can be any one of a number of types of projectiles, some of which explode on impact! Our son has a life-long friend who flew A-10's in the ME. He gave our son a "presentation case" that contains an American flag and one of rounds from the GAU-8 that is inert. both of these pieces "flew" with him on a mission. the GAU-8 round is huge! It'a about 7 inches long loaded!
No. 30mm depleted uranium which makes them very dense and very much armor piercing. The A-10 is a tank killer.
At least...not usually explosive. Those are available for special use.
That vehicle was booking...and with that hole in the roof, I assume some insurgents were cooking.
I appreciated the explosion to finish it off.
>>Aren’t the rounds explosive?
No. They’re depleted uranium if memory serves, meant to punch through tank armor. Explosive would be an anti-personnel and thin-skinned vehicle thing, like a 60mm mortar round. Or the Bofors cannons on an AC-130.
Around 1979 I saw a display piece of about 1’x1’x1” or so thick tank armor, with a nasty 30mm hole in it made by a GAU-8 round. It was a VERY purpose-driven design, and that purpose was holes in the tops of Soviet tanks in West Germany, should they ever show up.
After looking it up on Wikipedia, I’m right on the DU, but there’s also an HE round in the inventory. I don’t think that’s what we see here, though. Multiple 30mm HE rounds would have really shredded that vehicle into an unrecognizable hulk.
Here’s a little nugget I enjoyed from another article:
“Though the video states debunking myths on long range shooting, the results is what is significant.”
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