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Government
The Air Force Is Re-Winging A-10s After All
2018-02-03
[Popular Mechanics] It's official: The U.S. Air Force will buy new wings for aging A-10 Warthogs that risked a one way trip to the boneyard. The Air Force has made clear its intention to keep the A-10 flying after concerns surfaced that the service was taking advantage of the issue to get rid of the iconic close air support plane.

Earlier this month, a Pentagon official in charge of the A-10 program announced an effort to re-wing 110 of the jets "was not going to happen." Of the 280 A-10s still in U.S. Air Force service, 173 have received new wings to keep them flying into the 2030s. The original re-winging contract with Boeing was for 242 sets of wings, but the contract ended when it was no longer cost-effective for the company, and the Boeing production line is closing later this year.

That left at least 110 A-10s high and dry without new wings, a state that threatened to ground them for good unless a solution was found, reducing the number of A-10 squadrons from nine to six. The Air Force, focused on getting the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter up and running, didn't include a new wing contract it its 2018 budget. Congress, however added funding a new wing assembly line and four new wings to get it warmed up.

Now, the Air Force has committed to buying more wings. According to DoDBuzz General Mike Holmes, the head of the Air Force's Air Combat Command, announced last week at a Washington D.C. think tank that the service will buy more wings beyond the initial four. Exactly how many wings will "depend on a Department of Defense decision and (the Air Force's) work with Congress".
Posted by:KBK

#9  It is unclear to me why we don't give the A-10s to the ground services and stop this dicking around.

They will pretend it costs a bazillion dollars a year to run, cancel the plane, then keep control of the money so they can funnel it into the stupid F-35 program.
Posted by: gorb   2018-02-03 18:00  

#8  The Space War folk have a similar fight with the AirForce. The A-10 supporters and Space Command supporters should get together.
Posted by: 3dc   2018-02-03 11:28  

#7  i like the way Magpie thinks.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2018-02-03 10:57  

#6  #5 They spend all their monies on thee idiot trillion dollar airplane (F-35) the idiot congress made them take.
No, Puzzle Palace Mafia and the Beltway Think Tank Cabal. There is an intellectual argument to the multi-role one plane does everything. Take the F/A-18 as an example: A-6's and/or A-7's to drop the bombs, EA-6's for defense suppression, F-4's for fighter cover and so on. With a multi-role you can magically fold all those airframes into one plane and shrink the size of the air force by 20% ...
Until you need those specialists to do the hard jobs because the enemy has a vote and they don't feel like making things easy. And the bean counters have decided to throw away all of that specialist "know how" because multi-role means multi-capable.
Posted by: magpie   2018-02-03 10:23  

#5  We gave the A-10 to the Army but then the Airforce wanted it back.
It have been years of aggravation trying to keep this program alive.
The Airforce is schizophrenic with it's spending.

They spend all their monies on thee idiot trillion dollar airplane (F-35) the idiot congress made them take.

And it still does not have portholes.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-03 09:52  

#4  This has been an ongoing fight for years.
Posted by: Dale   2018-02-03 06:56  

#3  I have a strong feeling that Trump is behind this support for the A10's. What is good for the troops on the ground is reason enough to support for him.
Posted by: Dale   2018-02-03 06:55  

#2  Of the 280 A-10s still in U.S. Air Force service, 173 have received new wings to keep them flying into the 2030s.
2030's? Will the A-10's be flying after the last F-35A is retired, or will the F-35A be finally in active squadron service by that time? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: magpie   2018-02-03 01:24  

#1  The AF has repeatedly expressed its disdain for the close air support mission. It is unclear to me why we don't give the A-10s to the ground services and stop this dicking around.
Posted by: SteveS   2018-02-03 00:41  

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