Posted on 04/23/2014 6:29:07 PM PDT by Yo-Yo
For months, US Air Force officials have used the adjective “hard” to describe their decision to ground entire fleets of aircraft in response to budget cuts.
But on 23 April, USAF chief of staff Gen Mark Welsh says a review of the service’s options showed “very clearly” that grounding its Fairchild Republic A-10s is the right choice.
Speaking at a National Press Club event in Washington, DC, Welsh says the service evaluated a number of cost-cutting options against a “very detailed operational analyses” before making decisions.
“We came very clearly to the conclusion that of all those horrible options, the least operationally impactful was to divest the A-10,” Welsh says. “It makes perfect sense from a military perspective if you have to make these kind of cuts.”
The service’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal, which requires Congressional approval, proposes grounding all of its roughly 300 A-10s at a savings Welsh estimates to be $4.2 billion through fiscal year 2019.
The service has said other aircraft can fill the A-10’s close-air support mission, including Lockheed Martin F-16s and F-35s.
The USAF also considered deferring more planned orders for Lockheed Martin F-35As, but Welsh says that option would drive up the cost of the programme. He adds that the service intends to continue funding other next-generation programmes like the Boeing KC-46 tanker and the long-range strike bomber programme.
Another choice was to cut the fleet of Boeing F-15C fighters beyond the current 51 aircraft on the chopping block.
“We are cutting F-15Cs, but we can’t eliminate the entire fleet or we can’t do the air superiority mission,” he says.
Reductions in funding for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and for the service’s air mobility fleet were also considered, but Welsh says those missions already face a budget shortfall.
Also on the table: grounding the entire fleet of McDonnell Douglas KC-10 tankers.
“Without the KC-10s, you could [do the job] but it would be ugly and you would not have any flexibility whatsoever,” Welsh says. “The impact of that was simply too big on all the services.”
The same savings could be achieved by cutting three times as many Boeing KC-135 tankers.
“If you take three times as many KC-135s, you flat can’t do the job,” according to Welsh.
Other options included cutting command and control funding or grounding some long-range strike aircraft.
But Welsh says the USAF is the only service that can provide command and control on a “theatre scale”, and he says the US needs 80 to 100 strike platforms in the event of a large-scale war.
“That’s about how many we have today. They are aging, but we have the right number,” according to Welsh.
The USAF has created a transition plan that Welsh says would move other “hardware” into units that currently fly A-10s, but he did not elaborate.
“If we don’t divest the A-10s from those units, the plan will come unraveled…and we will start the planning over again,” he says.
1983 Negev mid-air collision – On 1 May 1983, during an Israeli Air Force training dogfight, an F-15D collided with an A-4 Skyhawk. Unknown to pilot Zivi Nedivi and his copilot, the right wing of the Eagle was sheared off roughly two feet (60 cm) from the fuselage. The F-15 entered a controllable spin after the collision. Zivi decided to attempt recovery and engaged afterburner to increase speed, allowing him to regain control of the aircraft. The pilot was able to prevent stalling and maintain control because of the lift generated by the large horizontal surface area of the fuselage, the stabilators and remaining wing areas. The F-15 landed at twice the normal speed to maintain the necessary lift, and its tailhook was torn off completely during the landing during a failed attempt at using the emergency arresting gear installed on the runway to bring the aircraft to a halt. Zivi managed to bring his F-15 to a complete stop approximately 20 ft (6 m) from the end of the runway. He was later quoted as saying "(I) probably would have ejected if I knew what had happened."
Also at NO WING F15.
Ask the grunts on the ground if they want and F-16 or F-18 or an A-10 in the air when they are in deep sh-t. The A-10 is so revered by the Army they have one on display at Fort Hood. The grunts love the A-10. They know that slow, ugly piece of aluminum will drop some really bad stuff on the bad guys that are up close and personal.
Marine infantry does not trust anyone but Marine Air for close air support. The A-10 and its pilots are great, but USAF leadership hates CAS and is unreliable. The Army should take the A-10s if the Air Force doesn't want them.
Well totally disbanding the military would save a big chunk too.
The A10 is a ground support aircraft. Currently very effective against the Taliban. Infantry love the A-10.
As a casual observer,it seems to me that what they are trying to do with the A-10 is a lot like what automotive”geniuses” are trying to do with some of the new cars. Take a proven performer & replace it with something that costs more,has more bells & whistles,& is less reliable or effective. It was always my understanding that the A-10 was an excellent,well proven aircraft that was a scarey sight to our enemies.
BLUF - if you can not break Mach 1; pull G’s until your eyes blur, and look high speed on the ramp the AF doesn’t want you.
CAS wins wars, like it or not. You win wars by taking territory away from your enemy and holding on to it. We tried something else in Vietnam; 58,000 plus names on a war tells me that what we did there was wrong. Saigon is now Ho Chi Min City.
For the last 12 plus years the fighters have had a floor below which they aren’t supposed to go. Specter and the Hogs lived, fought, supported, and survived well below that floor.
BTW - the F-16 need to be re-engined - flying all of those air born alerts CONUS under Operation Noble Eagle burned up the engines and airframes.
BTW - when is the first wing of F-35s going to be operationally ready? I mean the latest slip not the one sold to Congress.
What are our grunts supposed to do in the mean time when things turn to heck and the ground fight is danger close?
LM can’t make any profit supporting ground troops. The generals want nice jobs at LM after the Army. For dead soldiers LM won’t pay much. All taxpayer will pay a small pension for the widow.
Sad but so True, SadMillie. At the present rate of deficit spending by democrat-rino-communist, the interest on the debit is on track to surpass defense spending.
Kill the A-10 = 4.2 billion saved.
Continue the F-35 = Trillions wasted
Fighter Mafia 1, Taxpayers 0
I thought the army controlled the warthogs.
is this a turf war between the army and usaf?
A-10 has been an Air Force asset since introduction.
Grunts on the ground can talk to the A-10 and assign targets. Is that what you meant?
ok
Thanks Yo-Yo.
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