The Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II is a battlefield tank-killer, heavily armored and built around a powerful 30 mm gun and its enormous munition drum. Its large unswept wing, two turbofan engines in pods on top of the fuselage, and twin tailfins were designed to keep it flying after suffering serious damage, while the cockpit was armored to resist 23 rounds. The first production A-10A was delivered to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ., in October 1975. Designed specially for close air support, it combined large military loads, long loiter, and a wide combat radius, qualities that proved vital to America and its allies during Operation Desert Storm. In the Gulf War, A-10s had a mission capable rate of 95.7 percent, flew 8,100 sorties, and launched 90 percent of the AGM-5 Maverick missiles used there.