Posted on 09/10/2014 8:36:34 AM PDT by GonzoII
With top officers still calling for the aircraft’s retirement as a cost-saving measure, the US Air Force has announced a major potential investment in depot maintenance for the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt.
The air force on 9 September announced a $46 million contract award to Korean Air Lines Co. (KAL) for depot-level maintenance and repair of A-10s, commonly called Warthogs, stationed Osan Air Base, South Korea. The work will be performed at KAL’s facility in Seoul with an expected completion date of 30 September, 2020. No funds were obligated at the time of award, which is standard for maintenance contracts.
The award comes as the US is set to bolster its offensive against Islamic militants in the Middle East and with air force brass only weeks ago continuing their call for retiring the Cold War-era aircraft.
The A-10 was designed to fight tanks on the European plains in case the Cold War with the Soviet Union ever boiled over into open combat. Its role then evolved into close air support, flying low and slow to cover ground troops from the uncontested skies of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Air Force Gen Mike Hostage, chief of US Air Combat Command, in July told reporters the aircraft would not survive sorties over countries like Syria that have integrated air defence systems. That assertion has been widely debated, but the US is considering air strikes in that country in its ongoing fight against the Islamic State. Airstrikes so far have been carried out by carrier-based aircraft like the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Air Force officials maintain that the A-10’s sole close air support (CAS) role can be taken on by other aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin F-16, the Boeing F-15E and the Rockwell/North American B-1 bomber. Unmanned air vehicles like the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper also have been floated as CAS aircraft.
The Air Force stands to save $4.2 billion by retiring the A-10, a move that in the current fiscal environment “makes eminent sense” in the words of chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh. Welsh was quoted by the Wall Street Journal in August as remaining steadfast that it was the correct course and would protect funding for the service’s three main modernisation priorities: the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the Boeing KC-46 aerial refuelling tanker and a next-generation bomber to replace the Northrop Grumman B-2.
But retiring the A-10 is unpopular in Congress, where the argument has taken on an emotional tone. The US House of Representatives has voted to block the retirement plan in its version of the federal defence spending bill but did not allocate funding to keep the aircraft flying.
One day we will miss this incredibly cheap yet incredibly effective airplane and regret the day we retired it.
To hear actual Air Force officers say that an F-16 or an F-35 can replace the A-10 is proof positive that Nancy Pelosis’ functioning neurons have been divvy’ed up and implanted into whatever AF brass remains. That is simply the stupidest statement ever uttered.
Personally, I think the A-10 should be updated and perhaps modified to run quadruple 7.62 miniguns. That SOB would tear up the landscape good and proper.
As an AF retiree I probably should be insulted by your little rant; but I started as an enlisted Marine so I can set it aside as the inconsequential raving of a mere swabbie, servant, and bus driver supporting the Marine amphibious forces.
ouch
The Army would love to get the A-10s but the Air Force would rather retire them than give the Army a fixed-wing aircraft.
I would rather see a pair of .50 cal Gatling guns to punch through any light armor.
Chain guns, maybe. The pilot probably already has enough to do without giving him another pair of cranks to turn ;).
They should send a few to Ukraine, you know, for “testing”
yes
With Mad Vlad around, we are going to need Soviet tank killers.
The air force brass have never liked the A-10, since virtually its inception. It’s not a go-fast fighter so the brass, mostly made up of fighter jocks don’t like the ground support mission. Sometimes I wonder if the A-10 would be a better fit within Marine or Army aviation.
CC
And yes, I know i won't fly from the deck of an amphib. But neither do the KC-130 and the C-130 that are in direct support of a MEU.
The Air Force brass fail to remember the Iraqis had integrated air defense systems. Both times. Same result.
oops, slow-mo double post.
CC
Could see that, I was thinking more anti-personnel. Either way works for me, as well as leaving them the way they are.
The Air Force stands to save $4.2 billion by retiring the A-10, a move that in the current fiscal environment “makes eminent sense” in the words of chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh.
...
They need the money to pay for gender reassignment surgery.
Don’t you think the ugly A-10 (my fave) would be a great asset to the Corps? I was bummed when my son said the Marines don’t use them (he had been on his way to Afghanistan). Doesn’t the AF ever do anything for the Corps? Aren’t they supposed to work together? Must be the Marines not asking, eh?
Maddening, isn’t it.
Apparently you don’t know the Navy contracts their depot-level maintenance as well, at various locations globally.
The Navy, staffed by guys that get all excited about being on a ship in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by 5,000 hot sweaty guys. . .not that there’s anything wrong with that. . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmfd9etbXGE
I'd actually like to see an up-sized version of the Predator drone with a A-10-style gun. And under purely Army control.
Not exactly. But never mind. Its 20mm ‘gun’ needs to close to about 2,000’ in order to pierce an inch of armor, whereas the A-10, with the TRUE 30mm round can penetrate an inch and a half of armor at 8,000’.
And the Warthog can take several punches and still complete the mission. Any of the other aircraft else, usually once they are hit in any fashion they are out of the game and must head to the barn.
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