The latter half of the 20th century saw improvements in armour protection and firepower for tanks and the upgrading of antitank weapons' accuracy and effectiveness. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, holdover technology prevailed on the battlefield, although there were innovations such as the American Super Bazooka with its 89mm HEAT round.
The Cold War gave rise to a new generation of aircraft that served as ground-support weapons in their primary roles, and ground support most definitely included the ability to defeat enemy tanks. The American A-10 Thunderbolt entered service in 1977 and remains active today, famous for its survivability demonstrated during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and for its 30mm GAU-8/A Avenger auto-cannon that fires a depleted uranium armour-piercing round.
In 1981 the Soviet Union deployed the Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot as a ground-attack aircraft with a 30mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSjh-30-2 auto-cannon, rocket pods and an array of missiles. (The aircraft has recently appeared in the skies over Ukraine). More than 1,000 were manufactured during a 40-year production run.
This story is from the Issue 111 edition of History of War.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 111 edition of History of War.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES
In their quest for evermore novel and bloody entertainment, the Romans staged enormous naval fights on artificial lakes
OPERATION MANNA
In late April 1945, millions of Dutch civilians were starving as Nazi retribution for the failed Operation Market Garden cut off supplies. eet as In response, Allied bombers launched a risky mission to air-drop food
GASSING HITLER
Just a month before the end of WWI, the future Fuhrer was blinded by a British shell and invalided away from the frontline. Over a century later, has the artillery brigade that launched the fateful attack finally been identified?
SALAMANCA
After years of largely defensive campaigning, Lieutenant General Arthur Wellesley went on the offensive against a French invasion of Andalusia
HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE
Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive
LEYTE 1944 SINKING THE RISING SUN
One of the more difficult island campaigns in WWII's Pacific Theatre saw a brutal months-long fight that exhausted Japan’s military strength
MAD DAWN
How technology transformed strategic thinking and military doctrine from the Cold War to the current day
BRUSHES WITH ARMAGEDDON
Humanity came close to self-annihilation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Broken Arrows’ and other nuclear near misses
THE DEADLY RACE
How the road to peace led to an arms contest between the USA and USSR, with prototypes, proliferation and the world’s biggest bomb
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Einstein, Oppenheimer and the race to beat Hitler to the bomb. How a science project in the desert helped win a war
