U.S. Air Force shelving plans to retire A-10 "Warthog"

[tdracer]

According to Reuters:

The U.S. Air Force is shelving plans to retire the aging A-10 "Warthog" aircraft, a heavily armored tank killer, because of its role in the fight against Islamic State, online publication Defense One reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.

The 40-year-old ground attack aircraft is popular with soldiers, Marines - and some U.S. lawmakers.

Defense One quoted the Air Force officials as saying that, while the A-10 would still need to be retired, the service would put aside immediate plans to take it out of service because of the important role it is playing in combating Islamic State.
It would appear reality has stepped in to trump politics.

[NutLoose]

You should really for the sake of the USA try to avoid mentioning the word Trump and Politics in the same sentence.

As for the A10, sanity seems to have finally come to the fore.

[tdracer]

You should really for the sake of the USA try to avoid mentioning the word Trump and Politics in the same sentence.


I did notice that as I was writing it - I considered adding "no pun intended" :E

[air pig]

Maybe the US would be better building many more A10s and reduce the number of F22/35s being purchased.

[Pontius Navigator]

Air pig, remember sex sells

[air pig]

PN,

If they were as ugly as the F22/35, then abstinence would be the only option.

[West Coast]

More lives than a cat and more useful as well.

[ExRAFRadar]

Common sense over politics and Military in-fighting?

It will never catch on.

[Wageslave]

There's a delicious irony in using a lethal variety of pig to deal with the Islamic "state", isn't there?

[oldmansquipper]

So Mr C...how about a couple of squadrons worth on lease? Must be a few ex "fast jet" ground attack mates who are in need of a job. (or are they all in staff jobs now?)

Or, maybe give em to the AAC to be flown by SNCOs.?


Just sayin...;)

[MightyGem]

The A10 lives to fight another day. Again. :ok:

[Shaft109]

How the A-10 Warthog became 'the most survivable plane ever built' | PBS NewsHour (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/10-aircraft-designer-explains-warthogs-unique-characteristics/)

[Shaft109]

https://youtu.be/rEdy84YGf1k

[glad rag]

"well balanced news item"

Indeed!!

"
DavidGolani11 (https://disqus.com/by/davidgolani11/) • 2 years ago (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/10-aircraft-designer-explains-warthogs-unique-characteristics/#comment-1260849546) The USAF absolutely hates cheap and effective weapons systems. The problem is a good weapon doesn't make money for a contractor, and if it stays in the inventory a long time the contractor makes even less money.
Our military is run by private war companies pushing to buy useless weapons like the F-35"

[West Coast]

I don't think even the F-35s worst critics describe the plane as "useless".

What expert insights do you have to arrive at a conclusion that it's useless?

[MPN11]

Excellent news on the A-10. :ok:

Comments on F-35 belong on another thread somewhere ;)

[rock34]

Hawg Cleared Hot.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!

Nothing beats it.

[mr fish]

a rare outbreak of common sense....if it proves to be more than a flash in the pan, could we have the harriers back?




ahem....the next post could possibly be a shot of RAF harriers in bits, possibly in a desert somewhere!!


FISH.

[overstress]

You're welcome.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/03/article-2153741-135F2F9F000005DC-24_634x409.jpg

[glad rag]

I don't think even the F-35s worst critics describe the plane as "useless".

What expert insights do you have to arrive at a conclusion that it's useless?

So you admit everything else on the aforementioned quote is beyond address.

RESULT!

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/0a/47/17/0a4717c729e452bc78aac0c89249c3ce.gif

[glad rag]

You're welcome.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/03/article-2153741-135F2F9F000005DC-24_634x409.jpg

bugger, pretty sure I helped make a lot of those "what they were"

:\

[West Coast]

So you admit everything else on the aforementioned quote is beyond address.

I wouldn't know, I didn't fly it, build it or evaluate it. Have you?

[NutLoose]

bugger, pretty sure I helped make a lot of those "what they were"



Redundant? Surplus?

[MPN11]

Quite sad to see on the approach to Honolulu airport [a week or so ago] a bunch of AV-8s under their little sunshades at Hickam AFB :(

This link (http://militarybases.com/hickam-afb-air-force-base-in-honolulu-hi/) [3rd picture] shows the shelters clearly, just NW of "Sam Choy's Island Style Seafood Grille" ;)

[ORAC]

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/08/23/boeing-gets-999m-contract-to-continue-producing-wings-for-the-a-10-warthog/Boeing gets $999M contract to continue producing wings for the A-10 Warthog
WASHINGTON — Boeing beat out an unnamed company to win a contract to continue building the replacement wings (https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/01/25/air-force-to-order-more-a-10-wings-in-fy19-budget-request/)necessary to keep about 100 A-10 Warthog attack planes flying into the early 2030s (https://www.defensenews.com/congress/budget/2017/05/23/stayin-alive-no-retirement-in-sight-for-the-a-10-and-u-2/).

The U.S. Air Force on Aug. 21 awarded Boeing an initial $240 million, which will go toward producing the initial 27 wing sets, Boeing said in a statement. The contract is worth up to $999 million if all options are executed for 112 wing assemblies and 15 wing kits — enough to put new wings on the remaining 109 A-10s that still need replacements (https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/06/09/air-force-to-cut-three-a-10-squadrons-unless-funding-for-new-wings-emerges/). Although the value of the contract is small compared to the multibillion awards that Boeing receives to produce combat aircraft, the deal could be interpreted as a sign of the Air Force’s restored confidence in the company’s ability to produce A-10 wings on schedule and at low cost.....

Boeing has manufactured new wing sets for 173 A-10s, with deliveries spanning from 2011 to 2018. But toward the end of the production contract, Boeing ran into difficulties keeping to the delivery schedule (https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2017/09/20/air-force-could-ground-some-a-10s-as-early-as-2019-as-life-of-wings-run-out/) due to issues with a supplier that made a composite part used in construction of the wing panel. Last year, when asked why a follow-on contract hadn’t been awarded to Boeing to continue the wing replacement effort, Air Combat Command head Gen. Mike Holmes said the Air Force wasn’t convinced that was the best option. “The previous contract that we had was with Boeing, and it kind of came to the end of its life for cost and for other reasons,” he said in January 2018. “It was a contract that was no longer really cost-effective for Boeing to produce wings under, and there were options there that we weren’t sure that we were going to go [do], so now we’re working through the process of getting another contract.”

On Friday, Holmes said he isn’t sure whether those cost and supply chain issues had been resolved, referring those questions to the Air Force’s acquisition wing. “I’m happy to note that we have worked the contract solution to re-wing the remaining A-10s,” he said at an Air Force Association breakfast. “My interest in it is to find someone who can build those wings and get them out there in a cost-effective process. I have confidence that my partners in the AQ [acquisition] enterprise worked through that.”

Boeing has teamed with Korea Aerospace Industries for the contract and will manufacture the wings at facilities in the United States and South Korea, with all work slated to be finished by 2030. Two offers were received for the contract, noted the U.S. Defense Department contract announcement, meaning that Boeing beat out one other company.

The Air Force has committed to preserving six of its nine A-10 squadrons until 2030. The number of additional Warthogs it preserves will be dependent on how many wing sets the service ultimately decides to put on contract. In fiscal 2020, the service requested $132 million for the wing replacement program — also known as the A-10-Thunderbolt II Advanced-Wing Continuation Kit, or ATTACK. With strong support for the effort in Congress, it received $109 million in FY18 (https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/03/23/fy18-budget-deal-yields-life-sustaining-new-wings-for-the-a-10-warthog/) and $168 million in FY19, according to FY20 budget documents.

The award was hailed by one of the platform’s biggest advocates (https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/11/15/the-a-10s-biggest-advocate-lost-her-bid-for-the-senate-but-does-it-actually-matter/), Republican Sen. Martha McSally, the first female pilot to command a squadron of A-10s in combat. McSally represents Arizona, home of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where A-10s are stationed. “I know how critical the Warthog is to our military’s success in the air and on the ground,” McSally said in a statement. “I led the fight to keep the A-10 from being mothballed and to secure this re-winging funding, so it is good to see the contract awarded to start re-winging immediately — before any planes are grounded.”

[tdracer]

Another good article on why the A-10 lives on and on...Why Nothing (Even The Air Force) Can Kill The A-10 WarthogThe United States Air Force (USAF) has spent almost two-thirds of its existence as an independent service trying to get rid of the A-10 (https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/09/the-air-force-has-been-trying-to-kill-the-a-10-warthog-for-14-years/), one of its most well-known aircraft. But has the Air Force finally given up? (https://taskandpurpose.com/military-tech/air-force-a-10-warthog-funding/#:~:text=In%20its%20proposal%20for%20the,aircraft%20in%20fis cal%20year%202022.) It is odd to think that a fifty-year-old aircraft (https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/07/the-air-force-wants-to-retire-the-a-10-warthog-congress-says-nope/) might have more job security (https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/07/why-you-cant-stop-the-a-10-warthog-in-a-war-period/) now than at any time in its long history, but it does seem that the Warthog now has a relatively secure space in the USAF fleet.

[gums]

Salute!

I detect mucho polyticks and less actual experience in the "game". Follow the money.

I can see a very limited number of the Hawgs that are dedicated to low intensity environments like COIN or CSAR, but the cost will be like that of the SR-71 and F-117. I shall revert to my editorial back in 1973 or so....use the Apache or even the new drones. The days of we attack folks dropping at the gates or walls or fences are gone. We can remember and relish, but need to just let them go.

Gums sends..