The A-10 Gets a Lease on Life—At Least Through 2017
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff January 14 at 5:53 PM
Brrrrrttttt.
It’s a strange little bundle of consonants that happens to be the only way to pay tribute through the written word to the firing cycle of the A-10 Warthog’s 30mm cannon. To the infantryman it is the sound of salvation. To the Air Force it has been a siren song of frustration.
With the dawn of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the twilight years of the war in Afghanistan, the A-10 has been on the Air Force’s chopping block for years. A monument to simpler times when the Air Force needed a jet to strafe Soviet Tanks, the A-10, introduced in the late 1970s, instead became a workhorse for the country’s long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When troops left Iraq in 2011 and the combat mission was set to end in Afghanistan, the Air Force decided to retire the A-10 to make way for more modern aircraft like the F-35. The rise of the Islamic State changed that. Now, after two years of a congressional blockade to save the aircraft and an ongoing U.S.-led air campaign against ISIS, the A-10 is now set to live on well past 2017, according to a Wednesday report in Defense One.
[The F-35 vs. the A-10 Warthog, head-to-head in close-air support. It’s on.]
“It appears the Administration is finally coming to its senses and recognizing the importance of A-10s to our troops’ lives and national security,” Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), a retired Air Force Colonel and current member of the House Armed Services Committee said in an emailed statement in response to Defense One’s report.
The A-10 Warthog is a ground attack aircraft designed specifically to support troops on the ground in what is technically called “Close Air Support” or CAS. The A-10 is heavily armored and flies low and slow to provide accurate fires for troops on the ground. Compared to aircraft such as the F/A-18 and F-15, A-10s provide a sort of middle ground between their high flying cousins and helicopter gunships.
With the news of the aircraft’s expanded lifespan, lawmakers and service members alike rejoiced.
“I welcome reports that the Air Force has decided to keep the A-10 aircraft flying through fiscal year 2017, ensuring our troops have the vital close-air support they need for missions around the world,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said in a written statement online.
With the A-10 saved, what will the “Save the A-10″ Facebook page do now? Take up basket weaving?
You can read the original article here.
