Warplane: How the Military Reformers Birthed the A-10 Warthog

Debut author Sundt focuses this book on the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, a single-seat, subsonic attack aircraft created to provide soldiers on the ground with effective, violent support against tanks and other ground opponents. It is commonly called the “Warthog,” or simply “Hog” for its ungainly looks, toughness, and durability. The controversial concept of this fighter plane proved its worth in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Sundt argues. The narrative of its development is a lively, insightful example of conflicting views on Pentagon expenditures (in the billions of dollars) to engineer designs that may—or may not—be valuable for certain aspects of national defense. The intricacies of Pentagon discussions, sometimes expressed via soul-deadening technical memos, are illuminated in this book. There are also entertaining profiles of the people who promoted a relatively cheap and effective ground-attack aircraft. Complex arguments about costs, effectiveness, and speed vs. battlefield utility are described in terms accessible to non-technical readers.