Posted on 07/22/2025 6:46:09 AM PDT by Red Badger
A combination of budget constraints, strategic realignment, and the evolution of warfare in the decades since the A-10’s debut has contributed to the aircraft’s retirement. After four decades of service, the renowned A-10 Warthog is finally slated for full retirement. After years of indecision, the US Air Force now plans to retire the A-10 fleet before the end of FY2026. The last A-10 is expected to make its last flight before October 2026, a sad day in aviation that will mark the end of an aircraft that aviation enthusiasts and ground troops alike have adored for a generation.
The A-10 Warthog Is Still a Capable Fighter Despite finally being slated for retirement, the A-10 is now, and has been since its inception, the world’s most capable close air support (CAS) aircraft. Built to survive, loiter, and destroy, the A-10 has gained nearly legendary status for its ability to both absorb and dole out damage. With a titanium “bathtub” encasing the pilot and redundant flight systems, the A-10 has been known to survive significant damage, even having a wing sheared off, and still return the pilot safely back to base.
With a massive 30-mm GAU-8/A Avenger rotary cannon, capable of firing Pepsi can-sized depleted uranium rounds at a 70-round-per-second rate, the A-10 is fully capable of destroying tanks and armored vehicles. Paired with the ability to fly low and slow, almost like a helicopter, for extended periods over a battle space, the A-10 has rightfully earned a reputation as the world’s best CAS aircraft.
Indeed, the A-10 proved itself during the Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Afghanistan War, thriving in the desert environment and serving as an invaluable asset in protecting American troops on the ground and engaging the enemy in complex and close-quarters situations. The A-10 was so effective that many proponents argued for its continued use, even as the technology became outdated and the Air Force shifted toward newer, more advanced aircraft.
The A-10 Warthog Lacks Stealth Features However, after years of delaying the inevitable, the A-10 is finally slated for retirement. A combination of budget constraints, strategic realignment, and the evolution of warfare in the decades since the A-10’s debut has contributed to the aircraft’s retirement.
The A-10 is not a stealth fighter and would struggle to survive in contested environments against modern air defense systems. In addition, the United States is pivoting away from conflict with third-world countries where the US Air Force has complete air superiority, thereby allowing the A-10 to operate without consequence despite its lack of stealth characteristics. The US Air Force is preparing for conflict with near-peer adversaries that possess air defense systems capable of rendering the non-stealth, subsonic A-10 ineffective.
The A-10 retirement process is already underway. Congress, which had previously blocked attempts to divest the platform, citing concerns over CAS capability gaps (there is no A-10 equivalent), finally began approving limited A-10 retirements.
As a result, the Air Force has been gradually drawing down its fleet. The phase-out process will continue through FY2026, when the last of the 162 remaining A-10s will be stood down.
About the Author: Harrison Kass Harrison Kass is a Senior Defense and National Security Writer at The National Interest. Kass is an attorney and former political candidate who joined the US Air Force as a pilot trainee before being medically discharged. He focuses on military strategy, aerospace, and global security affairs. He holds a JD from the University of Oregon and a master’s in Global Journalism and International Relations from NYU.
Dumbqss move
Calling “Dibs” on a surplus A-10!
They’d be shot down quickly.
The plan was the F-35, but not sure that is working out as intended.
"It will be missed more than they know."
Correct. Because of drones, where weapons fit in, and when, has changed to meld with drone tactics, but such weapons as the A-10 will still be needed.
Anyone and everyone who has been in genuine ground combat loves the A-10.
Very interesting. Thanks for the link!
I have every belief it will be saved again. this is not the first time that the bureaucrats have tried to get rid of the plane. till they actually design and build a replacement for the capabilities of the warthog it be in the US arsenal
“Against the rest of the US military, that may be true.”
Against China or Russia or any country that has their air defense weapons intact.
You can take down an A-10 with a couple of Stinger manpads.
It is premature to determine that cheap drones will be able to replace close-in and deep strike manned attack aircraft, fighters, bombers; and artillery systems.
If we buy into the notion that drones can do it all there will be no need for manned aircraft; or airbases; or aircraft carriers; or vulnerable trucks, trains, headquarter facilities; or boots on the ground. Better give up the U.S. Capitol building too.
I've read that Nobel was convinced his invention would be so deadly that humans would just give up fighting wars. It didn't work that way.
It is way to early to put all our eggs into one basket.
I do think the era of manned aircraft if not coming to an end a severely reduced number of people will be needed to fly aircraft into battle.
Until someone develops a cost-effective drone defensive system that can be rapidly produced, drone swarms will continue to dominate the battlefield.
Drones have a number of major advantages, they can be massed produced by the millions, they are extremely cost effective, and they increasing don’t need a human to control them.
Worst military move of the decade...
This will come to bite them/us in the ass...
IMHO...
Why would you be launching that sort of ground attack without establishing air superiority and knocking out air defenses?
Sounds like a Vietnam style pointless war of attrition fought by democrat politicians. Or Ukrainians and Russians.
Quite a few years ago I was driving a back road in the western section of New Jersey’s pine barrens. As I was transiting a cleared spot I noticed motion in my rearview mirror and slowed a bit to try to see what it was. Seconds later I was looking at the underside of an A-10 Warthog through my windshield. Then, a second one roared overhead. I’d guess they were at a couple of hundred feet altitude.
Maybe I was honored to be a “target” for a practice run?
“What’s going to replace its function as the greatest ground support/tank killer ever?”
In Gulf War One, the F-111Fs destroyed more tanks than the A-10s. Or so I was told by a guy who worked on the post-war analysis. A laser-guided 500 pound bomb worked better than 30mm.
Given modern targeting pods and modern bombs, you can get BETTER close air support from higher altitude and guided weapons than from the A-10 going in low. I suspect drones will change things even more.
Air Farce brass always lusts for the gee-whiz stuff, no what works well.
Upgraded existing aircraft are a lot cheaper than new stuff that is full of hidden weakness (F-35) and too expensive to buy enough of.
“Don’t throw away a successful weapon until a proven one has been developed.”
Those proven weapons HAVE been developed. I did time in F-4 Wild Weasels. LOVED IT. But almost everything I learned then is no longer relevant to modern combat.
Glorifying the A-10 at this point is a bit like glorifying B-17s. And I understand it because I will go to my grave loving the F-4E/G! I also loved the EF-111 (although I always hated the regular F-111).
But I’m an old man and this isn’t 1955 or 1995. It is a totally different game. One of the things I learned in my first fighter squadron was to respect the past but not cling to it. Now that I’m old, I can LOVE the past - but I must not cling to it!
Nah, give them to the Marine Corps.
They need the CAS, and know how to support the grunts.
Anyone that has seen the difference between AF and Marine CAS knows what I mean.
Israel manages CAS from 20,000 feet due to precision bombs and missiles. And same plane can do long-distance bomb runs. There’s a reason the IDF never had interest in A-10s; casualty rates too high for limited manpower.
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