Posted on 06/13/2014 11:08:18 AM PDT by C19fan
On June 10, the House Appropriations Committee made clear the way many on Capitol Hill view national defense. By a raised-hands vote of 13 to 23, the Committee rejected an amendment from Congressman Jack Kingston—a Georgia Republican—to redirect $339 million from operation and maintenance funds, deemed excess, to retain 234 A-10 close air support aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory.
Even though the committee found $1.6 billion to increase the Obama Administration’s budget to buy hardware, it could not find a penny to retain one of the most extraordinarily effective weapons in the U.S. arsenal—and one of the cheapest to operate.
(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...
February 25 · Edited TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today that he is recommending the elimination of the A-10, the mainstay aircraft at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, as part of a proposed military budget. The Air Force has said it would save $3.5 billion over five years by cutting the entire fleet of 343 A-10s.
Too bad the grunts don’t get a say in the matter.
Don’t worry. Those funds are needed to bus in diseased, third world parasites and charge their welfare/benefits cards, phones, and vehicles. /sarc
Disgraceful - but predictable.
How ironic that in Iraq they could be a game changer right now.
they’d be sitting ducks for a jihadi IR missile.
It’s the tanker and grunt’s best friend. The Air Force has always hated it.
I am not particularly knowledgeable on these things but I think they might actually be vulnerable. I am sure they have some defenses and I know they are built to absorb some damage.
Same thing with the Spectre Gun Ships. They deliver a knockout punch but probably have a glass jaw.
Hopefully saner heads will prevail and funding will be restored in the final budget. But if they really want to piss the AF off, transfer all of the A-10s to the Army.
Can’t wait to see the over priced, fragile, untested, super fighter that will replace it. Drones perhaps?
There is nothing out there to replace this aircraft.... Period. Nothing. This plane was designed from the ground up for this role. Apaches are too fragile, bombers are overkill, and fancy new Gen fighters are untested. There is no aircraft that can handle the abuse and punishment. Maybe we will replace them with airtractors new plane.
The A10 will be back. This isn’t the first time it was killed only to be brought back again because the military brass are idiots. You simply have to look at the ash heap of failed programs, like the B1, as an example.
I’m amazed they got the B1 working. It was considered one of the biggest flubs in American military history.
Active Duty A-10 ping.
The A-10 is built to take heavy damage.
There’s a ghastly poetry in how as they killed the plane that is extremely useful in deckmating open columns, halfway around the world a convoy of armed militants drove in a column toward conquest.
Grrrrrrr Ping.
That was my first thought also. I read that thread before noticing this one.
Wow, save a whole $3.5 billion over 5 years. BFD
In terms of effective pinpoint delivery of firepower and support of troops on the ground, the A 10 will never have an equal.
I will never understand why the Air Force has hated it so.
Not hardly pilgrim.
Since its inception in the early 1970s the A-10 was designed to live, fight, and survive at low level in the MADPAD threats. Of the three, survive, IMHO, is the most important. Photos from DESERT STORM prove this.
But, it was never a “F” platform. Therefore like other “A” platforms it was the poor, red-headed, bas*ard child from the wrong side of the railroad tracks. The only surprising thing is it took the AF 25 years, and multiple attempts (thank you US Army) to kill it.
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