Free The Manhattan Incident by Raymond Poincelot Page B

aircraft, the A10/C Thunderbolt II, known affectionately as the Warthog. While we can’t guarantee the titanium armor plates would be immune to laser fire, it might buy enough time for the pilot to bring offensive weapons into play. The Warthog can survive direct hits with armor piercing and highly explosive projectiles up to 23 mm. It has triple redundancy control systems, a double hydraulic system, and a back-up mechanical system. It is a survivor. Too bad the Pentagon decided to end their production and put the remaining planes into mothballs. The process has only recently been completed. The Warthogs have not been removed from their airbases for storage yet, so we can pull most of them back into active service quickly.”
    Dr. Kaminski continued. “Our only intelligence is the Iranian experience. Clearly, the alien targeting system is capable of tracking and destroying 12 missiles at once. However, there has got to be a limit on how many targets can be targeted simultaneously. We do not know that number. Here is my worst case scenario. Let’s assume that the Warthog’s missile capacity, even assuming several Warthogs at once, could not over-saturate the hostile’s targeting system. The hostile craft, however, would be forced to target multiple incoming missiles, thus buying time for the main weapon system, the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling cannon to do its job.”
    “The cannon fires depleted uranium 30 mm rounds at a rate of 3900 rounds per minute. These rounds can penetrate thick armor such as in the best tanks available. We think a full magazine into the hostile craft would damage it sufficiently to bring it down. It is also accurate, its laser painting target system coupled with the helmet mounted integrated targeting system can place 80% of the shots into a 40 foot circle at 4000 feet. While we have no exact size for their craft, the radar signature and visual sightings by our pilots indicate it is larger than the suggested target circle, so we think 100% of the depleted uranium projectiles will hit it. So, in summary, we buy time with the armor and missiles, hopefully enough for the cannon to take out the hostile craft. Warthogs can be extensively damaged and still return to base as we learned in the Iraq war.”
    “On the con side, these aircraft are primarily designed for ground attacks, given their lower speeds and altitude limitations. They can loiter at 5,000 feet, but the hostile craft will have to be at 5,000 feet or lower. We also don’t know the extent of the hostiles’ intelligence. Clearly, they have been monitoring our communications long enough to know base locations, labs and presidential hide-outs. Likely they can tap our Wi-Fi cloud. All the information you would ever want on the Warthog can be found at Wikipedia. However, they seem to only fire when provoked, so it is possible our Warthogs can approach them when they descend to lower altitudes near their destination targets. Essentially, this is a one shot deal. This attack will need to take place in various locations in a tight window time. Once these hostiles find out the capability of our Warthogs up close, it is doubtful that any will have a second time to approach the hostiles. They’ll likely be shot down long before they are in weapons deployment range.”
    “General, I feel compelled to add something else that we think needs to be considered. There is always the possibility that these hostiles are not intent on target destruction, but are merely being positioned to demonstrate a threat and position of power.  If they are peaceful, this posture is essentially an insurance policy should we decide to attack them. If they are hostile, it is a threat posture to back up their demand for our surrender. Of course, it could equally be strategic positioning to deal us a deathblow with a surprise attack.” At that, Dr. Kaminski sat down.”
    “Thank you, Dr. Kaminski, for that detailed analysis. I need to think things out for a few