Especially clean, but those pictures are hard to find.
Posted on 04/28/2015 8:24:45 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
The Air Force will send some perfectly fine fighter jets to the boneyard or delay its F-35 Lightning II rollout for a year if Congress blocks retirement of the A-10 Thunderbolt, according to a document recently provided to military oversight committees.
The tradeoffs would occur at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, due to limited number of personnel to maintain the A-10s, F-16 Fighting Falcons and the first advanced F-35 joint strike fighters slated to arrive later this year, the service told lawmakers.
The Air Force and Congress have been grappling over the future of the A-10, known as the Warthog, for the past year. Hill recently unveiled plans to mothball 18 of the aircraft. The service wants to eliminate the close-air-support aircraft to save money but the House Armed Services Committee said it will vote this week on a draft defense budget that will bar the move.
“The Air Force, if compelled to retain the A-10, does not possess a sufficient number of experienced maintainers to sustain the original Hill AFB conversion plan [to] stand up [a] new F-35 fighter squadron and then convert two F-16 units,” the service wrote to the committee in an unclassified talking paper obtained by Stars and Stripes. The undated document was recently provided to House and Senate armed service committees, congressional staff said.
The F-16s were to be relocated to other bases – Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Fort Wayne Air National Guard Base in Indiana – to replace A-10 units and make room for the F-35s.
Instead, the jets would be sent to the “boneyard” storage area at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, the service said.
If lawmakers try to block F-16s from the boneyard, the lack of qualified maintenance personnel would delay the F-35 from flying at Hill for “at least a year,” it said.
The Air Force has repeatedly asked Congress to support the A-10 retirement, which it says will save about $4.2 billion over the next four years and allow the fleet to be modernized. The A-10 has been flying since the 1970s and is now deployed in Iraq and Europe.
Lt. Col. Christopher Karns, an Air Force spokesman, said it is premature to speculate on what actions the service will take before Congress hashes out the annual defense budget.
“The Air Force has actively explored a range of options to address its maintainer shortage,” Karns wrote in an email. “An inability to divest A-10s will impact the ability to provide experienced maintainers to support the F-35 mission.”
The chairman of House Armed Services released his draft of the annual defense budget Monday and it included a measure fully funding the A-10 program, though it would allow the Air Force to mothball a maximum of 18 aircraft.
However, Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., said she plans to introduce an amendment Wednesday that will prohibit any retirement of the aircraft.
Especially clean, but those pictures are hard to find.
Send them to the Texas State Guard.
F-35 Thunderbird.
All this says to me is we need to get rid of most of the Air Force generals who can’t do their ef’ing jobs and lay off half the government civilians who do squat but keep the contractors from accomplishing any job their tasked with doing in a timely and efficient manner. I know from personal experience. WE need all three aircraft. If we had some Air Force generals that were interested in protecting our country instead of being hatchet men things might be different. In my 18 years of being an Air Force/Nasa designer there isn’t one general I was under that I wouldn’t spit on at this point in time. How about we put some enlisted men in charge of training, maybe we’ll get something done. I came from the largest Marine Phantom squadron in existence back in the day, I don’t see the problem. Sending F-16’s to the boneyard...... someone ( several) need to to be shot at sunrise.
From the ground, we loved those planes in ‘91.
Had corned beef and cabbage dinner this St Paddys Day
last with a long ret Air Force General named Yeager, his
wife, and 60 other friends from the sportsmen club I
belong to. He has a great appetite for a man into his
90s and never misses the annual March meeting dinner.
Congress should say, “fine,” and give the aircraft to the Army and the Marines.
Dump the 35, keep the A-10, F-16’s and build more F-15SE’s. Oh yeah, toss in some Avro Arrows and F-20’s too.
O yeah? You try rioting without a fully charged EBT to keep up your nutrition, or a good night's rest in your Sec 8 crib. Try coordinating a demonstration without your Obamaphone.
These programs be vital. Sometimes you white boys just don't get it.
Whats the WORST scenario,,,,,,?
Thats the one democrats like...
That like using mustangs for ground attack in korea.Just stupid.The airforce retired the P-47 thunderbolt after the war except for some guard units and when korea rolled around they were gone.Dumb as hell.
I take it you are Junior?
You recall correctly. The first successful U.S. satellite was launched by a U.S. Army Jupiter rocket.
When he got back to the states, he continued as an instructor for F-4 Phantoms.
The Mustang was a great plane but I agree with you for ground attack, it would not be my first choice either. The Mustang was meant for air to air combat and escort, which the P-47 could do as well. However, the P-47 is a much beefer plane suited for ground attack as well and don’t forget, the P-51 was watercooled, if you take out the radiator, you’ll have problems, at least the P-47 being aircooled did not have that problem. If I had to choose a WWII type plane to bomb bad guys with, fight space aliens or take out jihadi’s, I’d choose the P-47 or maybe the Corsair, I want something more beefy.
Thanks for the pic. I drew the bottom view of F-16 engine at half scale on the drafting board many years ago. Imagine how big that drafting board was. :)
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