Nov 29, 2025
A Warthog from the Idaho ANG 124th FW deleting something on the Grafenwoehr Training Area Range in Germany
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A Warthog from the Idaho ANG 124th FW deleting something on the Grafenwoehr Training Area Range in Germany
Size comparison of GE GAU-8 Gatling gun, used in A-10 Thunderbolt II, and Volkswagen Type 1
Has anyone asked you to rip the GAU-8 Avenger?
Yeah. it’s definitely one of the more requested ones. I’ve got at least three asks about it in my inbox.
11/10 concealed carry weapon, would EDC one if I lived in a free state
Ok, ok, seriously though -
The GAU-8 is a 30mm gatling gun made famous by the A-10 Warthog. It’s also used in the Goalkeeper CIWS but that’s Dutch so no one actually cares about it. It’s hydraulically driven, has seven barrels, and can pour nearly 4,000 rounds per minute at whoever pissed you off today. Legend has it that it’s considered by some of the more… unusual…. Ork Boyz to be “enuff dakka.”
The GAU-8 was designed in the 1970s to kill tanks, and it does a fantastic job - as long as the tanks you’re killing are also from the 1970s. Nowadays it’s mostly relegated to taking out technicals and APCs while actual tank-busting is done with PGMs. See, the problem is that tank designers didn’t just throw their hands up and say “guess we’re out of a job” when the GAU-8 showed up, they went back to their slide rules and drawing boards and made better tanks. Modern tank armor has gotten significantly better over the last four decades, not to mention the addition of things like ERA. The GAU-8 isn’t useless against them - you can always get lucky - but it’s just not reliable enough. Why waste your time carefully lining up a strafing pass and figuring out how you’ll come back around for your second run when you can just chuck a Maverick at the target and be done with it?
Ok, so the GAU-8 isn’t a tank-killer anymore, but what about softer targets like the technicals I mentioned before? Well, yes it’ll work quite well against those but so will a 20mm Vulcan and it’ll do the job with a fraction of the weight and recoil. Using a GAU-8 to take out some dipshit in a 30-year-old Toyota Hilux is like using your .50 BMG for squirrel removal. It’s the .45 AARP ACP “muh stoppin’ powah” argument all over again and it’s just as stupid.
The GAU-8 is just the aviation world’s equivalent of the 1911 - great when introduced, since rendered obsolete by the inexorable passage of time and technology.
A face only a crew chief could love. Close up of the A-10 Thunderbolt II and it's mighty GAU-8 Avenger cannon. #a10 #thunderbolt #warthog #gau8 #usaf #static
A GUN SO AWESOME THEY STRAPPED A PLANE TO IT.