Tag Archives: a-10

Air Force May Mothball F-16s if A-10 Stays

The US Air Force will reportedly ship perfectly good F-16s to the desert — and potentially slow down the F-35 program — if it is forced to keep the A-10 beyond the date it wants it retired:

The House Armed Services Committee inserted $683 million into the 2016 defense bill to stop the Air Force from retiring the A-10 Warthog.

However, Air Force leaders said the service will have to mothball F-16s and delay the deployment of the F-35 in response to the move by the committee.

The HASC logic basically says the Air Force needs the A-10 right now, as Read more

US Army Supports Air Force Plan to Cut A-10

The Air Force defended its decision to cut the A-10 from its inventory in a meeting with lawmakers last week:

Graham and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suggested the Air Force has more work ahead to convince Congress that retiring the A-10 is a smart move.

“So for about $3.5 billion over the next five years, if [Congress] could find the money, could you afford to keep the A-10 on board?” Graham said.

Welsh said money wasn’t the only problem…

In an interesting twist, the US Army — which has traditionally been “accused” of wanting the A-10 and criticizing the Air Force for wanting to get rid of it — actually seems to be supportive of the decision:  Read more

Budget Proposal: Air Force to Retire A-10s, U-2s

The controversial DoD budget proposal that has been in the news for the past few weeks contains two specific items for the US Air Force — the end (again) for the A-10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”), and the U-2 Dragon Lady.

The former is supposed to be replaced by the F-35; the latter, by the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk.

The A-10 has been on and off the chopping block for decades — most recently preserved by the very intentional efforts of a single Senator, who now calls this decision a “serious mistake.”

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Air Force Could Save Billions by Cutting A-10

Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has lifted her hold on the nomination of Ms. Deborah Lee James to the position of Secretary of the Air Force:

An Ayotte aide told Defense News on Thursday that Ayotte will no longer stand in the way of Debroah Lee James’ nomination after carefully reviewing data provided in response to question she submitted to the Air Force.

Part of that data included responses from the Air Force that it could save “billions” of dollars by cutting an entire fleet, rather than “millions” by reducing it or making cuts elsewhere.

General Mark Welsh, Air Force Chief of Staff, provided some personal insight:  Read more

Senator Retains Hold on SecAF Nominee

The confirmation of Ms. Deborah Lee James, nominee for Secretary of the Air Force, has been delayed (previously discussed) as Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has continued her “hold” over the issue of A-10s in the Air Force:

An aide to the New Hampshire Republican told Defense News on Tuesday that the senator felt the Air Force failed to sufficiently answer her questions about the A-10 plans. Therefore, Ayotte has decided to keep what’s known as a hold on Deborah Lee James’ nomination, the aide said.

Ayotte has previously said she is concerned the Air Force would retire the A-10 — which her Air Force husband flew — without a suitable replacement for the mission.

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Senator, Wife of A-10 Pilot, Blocks Nominee over A-10 Cuts

On her website, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) buttresses her national defense credentials by noting she was a military spouse of an A-10 pilot.

Now that the Air Force has basically said it wants to get rid of the A-10 (again), Senator Ayotte has put a “hold” on the nomination of Ms. Deborah Lee James to the position of Secretary of the Air Force:

She…views this as a readiness issue. Until we have Read more

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