Free Republic

After more than four decades in service, the A-10 Warthog is due for a replacement. So says the U.S. Air Combat Command. What's more, ACC says it's already "thinking about" fielding such a replacement. But what might that replacement be? Last week, we got a clue. As reported by Reuters, the Air Force has recently begun evaluating Textron's Scorpion fighter jet as a potential 21st-century replacement for the 20th-century Warthog.

Even as the Pentagon plans for warfare on distant battlefields, it is engaged in a budget battle to retire the Air Force’s venerable A-10 Thunderbolt. But the “Warthog” has many supporters in the military and on Capitol Hill, and the fight to keep the aircraft flying continues. Here's a look.

The effort to preserve Selfridge Air National Guard Base’s 24 A-10 aircraft gained some altitude Thursday when the Senate Armed Services Committee embraced a provision that would block budget cuts to the Air National Guard. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said his committee had unanimously approved an annual defense bill that rejects proposals to eliminate Air National Guard aircraft and personnel across the nation, including proposed cuts at Michigan bases. The cuts proposed by the Air Force would have eliminated the A-10 jets in the 107th Fighter Squadron at Selfridge — and the 560 military...