R.I.P A-10 Warthog

[peterd]

It looks like this is the end of the road for the beloved A-10 Warthog.

Land and air forces alike loved the powerful old plane and it’s massive rotary cannon. However, with the Air Force looking to eliminate single-mission aircraft, it appears the low and slow A-10 is the odd man out.

Here’s to a great career and great service!

________________

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — As an old Warthog pilot, Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Clarke III spoke in near mournful tones Wednesday of the likely mothballing of the venerable A-10 close air support aircraft and tank killer.

“Can we save the A-10?” was the question from the audience Wednesday at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference here.

Clarke, director of the Air National Guard, came at the question in roundabout fashion. He loved flying the A-10 Thunderbolt, better known as the “Warthog,” Clarke said. He noted that the plane was “near and dear to land warriors” for its GAU-8 Avenger, a 30mm rotary cannon that is the heaviest such weapon mounted on an aircraft.

But the Air Force was “looking at reducing single mission aircraft,” Clarke said, and under the sequestration process “we’re not getting any more money – that option is out.”

The Air Force “has to have a fifth generation force out there” of stealthy, fast and maneuverable aircraft, and the low and slow A-10 just didn’t fit in, Clarke said.

“We’re on board with moving towards Air Force 2023,” the concept for the future of the force which has no room for the A-10, Clarke said.

Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, also declared his affection for the A-10, which happens to be an aircraft he has 1,000 hours flying.

“I love that old ugly thing,” Welsh said.

However, the chief of staff explained the service has to take part in finding over a trillion dollars in cuts to the defense budget over the next ten years because of sequestration. In this budget environment, he said the Air Force will likely be unable to afford the Warthog.

The A-10, developed by Fairchild-Republic in the 1970s, was credited with destroying more than 900 Iraqi tanks in the first Gulf War and has been a close air support mainstay in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

However, Welsh said the A-10 finds itself on the chopping block because “it’s a single-mission airplane, essentially,” and would struggle in more contested airspaces.

americanmilitarynews.com/2013/09/r-i-p-a-10-warthog/

[prospero]

The last time the Air force tried to get rid of the A-10, The Army and Marines both offered to take it over, and the AF responded by handing the plane off to the Air Guard.
The Aid Force couldn't stand the idea that the Army might once again get it's hands on fixed wing Aircraft of any kind.

I live in a place where I get to see those Warthogs flying around all the time, and I don't think they are ugly at all.

[Sailor]

The Afghan's have a saying from the days of the Soviet invasion, "We don't fear the Russians. We fear their helicopters" (the MI-24 Hind.)

The A-10 is (I think) one of only two fixed wing birds the Afghan insurgents are truly frightened of, the AC-130 being the other.

With "sequestration" in place, if the Air Force gives up the A-10 neither the Marines or Army are going to be able to take it over.

I can only hope they are mothballed and not scrapped.