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Air Force to Sustain A-10s ‘Indefinitely,’ General Says
Defense Tech ^ | October 28, 2016 | By Oriana Pawlyk

Posted on 10/28/2016 11:49:34 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee

The depot line for the A-10 Thunderbolt is cranking back up as part of an effort to keep the Cold War-era aircraft flying “indefinitely,” a general said.

Depot maintenance for the popular close-air-support aircraft, popularly known as the Warthog, has been “fully reopened,” Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski told Aviation Week on Monday.

“They have re-geared up, we’ve turned on the depot line, we’re building it back up in capacity and supply chain,” Pawlikowski said. “Our command, anyway, is approaching this as another airplane that we are sustaining indefinitely.”

Pawlikowski also told the magazine that Air Force maintainers are gearing up to replace the Warthog’s wings, dipping into a $2 billion Boeing contract originally awarded in 2007, according to Popular Mechanics. The contract was intended to upgrade the A-10 when the plan was to keep the aircraft flying until 2028.

Like any decades-old aircraft, the A-10 has experienced corrosion, which is to be expected, Pawlikowski said. The majority of the maintenance work for the 283-aircraft fleet is conducted at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at defensetech.org ...


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To: 4rcane

No drone can or will attain the capabilities and situational awareness of a warthog. And as for it being old and needing replacement, that comment shows you have a fundamental misunderstanding of infantry and of aircraft maintenance.


41 posted on 10/29/2016 5:43:18 AM PDT by DesertRhino (November 8th. AMERICA'S BREXIT!)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Finally - a good decision on this great war plane.

It has a place in war no other plane and no set of tactics will ever fill, and is desperately needed for ground action. Indeed - we need it forever........

And A-10 pilots love it!


42 posted on 10/29/2016 5:53:14 AM PDT by Arlis
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To: wastoute
"Why do they keep threatening this plane?"

Because America's enemy's are everywhere....even in congress.....

43 posted on 10/29/2016 5:53:42 AM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
They hear your engines after you’re a mile away and leaving.

They used to train over my area in north-central WV. You'd hear a loud BOOM with a receding roar as they followed ground contours away. Used to startle the hell out of me when they would first clear the ridge. lol

44 posted on 10/29/2016 5:58:19 AM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: Theophilus

I talked one of my young employees (who was going nowhere fast) into joining the Corps 2000.
He became a GRUNT (just like his old boss was in 68), when he got back stateside in 2004 he stopped by to see me.
During our conversation CAS came up, he told me anytime a “HOG DRIVER wanted a drink all they had to do was visit a Marine Corps bar, if they wanted to have their ass kissed all they had to do was mark the spot”.
That settled the question of the value of the A-10 for me,
I know the value of close air support from personal experience.
The kid went LIFER, who knew.


45 posted on 10/29/2016 6:01:30 AM PDT by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: Arlis

The A-10 is a solid CAS platform, the F-35 not so much. The conflicts we have been in the last few decades indicate that an A-10 type platform provides much greater value to the taxpayer.


46 posted on 10/29/2016 6:01:40 AM PDT by phormer phrog phlyer
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To: MasterGunner01

No, the reason that the Air Force changed their position and decided to keep the A-10 is that they knew that killing it would put the Key West Accords at risk. The Army was going to push for its own close air support - either the A-10 or drones - if the AF couldn’t supply it. And the Air Force wasn’t ready for that can of worms to be opened.


47 posted on 10/29/2016 6:03:53 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: Brad from Tennessee

JSF isn’t a fitting replacement


48 posted on 10/29/2016 6:34:21 AM PDT by dila813 (Voting for Trump to Punish Trumpets!)
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To: Tench_Coxe

Warthog is a nickname. Official name is Thunderbolt II. The first Thunderbolt was a P-47.


49 posted on 10/29/2016 6:36:03 AM PDT by PJammers (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: unread

Some folks get downright testy. I was just joshing and took some heat.


50 posted on 10/29/2016 6:37:03 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

“Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end”


51 posted on 10/29/2016 7:25:54 AM PDT by Rannug ("all enemies, foreign and : domestic")
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To: Mad Dawgg
the major tooling was intentionally destroyed years ago...

52 posted on 10/29/2016 7:29:40 AM PDT by Chode (You Owe Them Nothing - Not Respect, Not Loyalty, Not Obedience, NOTHING! ich bin ein Deplorable...)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Good news....


53 posted on 10/29/2016 7:58:24 AM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (Trump, effective govt. that will be great for crony "art of the deal" capitalists)
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To: Brad from Tennessee; zot; 2ndDivisionVet

At last, the USAF acknowledging that Warthogs are good for the survival of Army grunts on the battlefield.


54 posted on 10/29/2016 8:45:22 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: JudgemAll
When the Air Farce was formed the Army was no longer allowed to have ANY fixed wing aircraft.

Creating the Air Farce was a major mistake.

55 posted on 10/29/2016 8:53:38 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Not a Romantic, not a hero worshiper and stop trying to tug my heartstrings. It tickles!)
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To: GreyFriar

Good! It is the only purpose-built CAS aircraft.


56 posted on 10/29/2016 8:55:21 AM PDT by zot
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To: Chode
Yeah figures. Hey here is a thought. Next government boondoggle overpriced weapons platform the congress orders they put in the law also that the contractors must forever maintain the tooling and capabilities to build more or they don't get the big bucks. (they can store the gizmos for free in some gub'ment building somewhere if needed.

Oh wait, that would be logical and make sense.

Never mind...

57 posted on 10/29/2016 9:04:30 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: Mad Dawgg
100%... iirc in this case it was the US Gov(prolly USAF) that demanded their destruction
58 posted on 10/29/2016 9:14:32 AM PDT by Chode (You Owe Them Nothing - Not Respect, Not Loyalty, Not Obedience, NOTHING! ich bin ein Deplorable...)
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To: 5th MEB
"Wherever you have extremists, you've got some risks of total disconnection with society, and that's a little dangerous"

The Marines obviously have an affinity for "extreme" things like dedicated young men and Warthogs!

59 posted on 10/29/2016 9:19:40 AM PDT by Theophilus (The Deprived Depraved, deplorable to the Deplorables.)
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To: JudgemAll

The USAF hates ANY other service having aircraft. After WW II the USAF tried hard to get all Navy aircraft and aircraft carriers scrapped. Only the Revolt of the Admirals stopped it from happening.


60 posted on 10/29/2016 11:17:59 AM PDT by pabianice (LINE)
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