Posted on 04/20/2026 7:32:35 PM PDT by chrisinoc
WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force secretary extended the life of the A-10 "Warthog" attack plane until 2030, sparing the aging but beloved close air support aircraft that has played an important role in Iran from an earlier retirement deadline of 2026.
"We will EXTEND the A-10 'Warthog' platform to 2030," Air Force Secretary Troy Meink posted on social media, adding the move "preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
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In consultation with @SecWar, we will EXTEND the A-10 “Warthog” platform to 2030. This preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production.
Thank you to @POTUS for your unwavering support of our warfighters and quick, decisive leadership as we equip our force. More to come.
It’s not glamorous, but it works.
How about making some more of them? Like 1,000 more.
It has a limited mission which can be filled by helos.
But people love it.
No helo has it’s loiter time endurance, firepower, survivability. Not even close. And then talk about the maintenance difference between an A-10 and an Apache.
There was an air show this past weekend at Holloman. My relative went w family. I said watch for the A 10s. They have a young active duty AF kid in the group. They got back to me yesterday with reports of all events. I asked re the A 10. ‘Oh junior says the A 10 is phased out”.
I said oh ya I know. They said that in the gulf war. They always say that. Generals have no where to go after retirement with the A 10 but they always bring it back. The A 10 is all over the theater right now per the news.
Anyway, not to want to sound like a couple of oldies to Junior. I just wanted to bring attention to an awesome airplane. They’re so ominous
I looked it up and junior was right. All phased out.
Then like clockwork I see this headline in Citizen Free Press this afternoon.
Stars and Stripes no less
I forwarded it without a peep.
The company that use to make them is out of business. What we have is all we got!
The zoom-zoom fighter mafia thrashes in rage.
My Dad was an engineer who worked on the A10 Wart Hog and other projects in the 60s and 70s. This was a time when the engineers who put men on the moon did it using slide rules. And yes, he also worked at Grumman and was part of the team that worked on the LEM.
No way a helicopter can replace the Warthog!
IMHO, both the Army and the Marine Corps need Warthogs!
Ya cant mount that 30mm chain gun on a helo, and helos are fragile in comparison. Also they are slower.
I think its better to say an MH-60 can perform some of the missions an A10 can.
PS I searched for pics of helicopters that survived a shoulder launched SAM hit. Couldn’t find any.
“ The company that use to make them is out of business. What we have is all we got!”
Yep not a lot of $ in it. So. Phase it out. Everything else we have can take its place. Only nothing we have ever takes its place.
Well, they still have 150 or so mothballed at the Boneyard out in Tucson. They just retired 56 of them back in '23 and '24.
Good Lord. Stupid should hurt.
Anything can be scanned into CAD down to the Fasteners.
Engineering, CAE, materials & Design changes can be made based upon recommendations. Source to suppliers and Magic. You a new product.
You can light a match on it as it flies over ,LOL
What the Apache cannot do, the F-35 can.
The Helos do not have the range, speed, payload, weapons mix, and poor high altitude performance. The apache is an excellent machine as is the A-10. We need both.
It's a good plane but if you want more of them, you are starting from scratch.
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