Thursday, February 27, 2014

USAF Will Scrap, Not Mothball, the A-10

One airplane can field the GAU-8 30mm cannon - Let's scrap it!
The Air Force isn't planning to mothball its 283 A-10s, but simply retire the type wholesale as part of the Fiscal 2015 budget request, service Secretary Deborah Lee James said Wednesday. James told a Bloomberg defense symposium in Washington, D.C., that "the idea…is to…retire them fully" rather than put the A-10s into Type 1000 storage—meaning they could be returned to operations if needed—at the Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., boneyard. However, she said the A-10s won't be retired all at once, but rather over several years. "The beginning years would tilt toward the Active component," and the Guard and Reserve A-10s would be the last to go, she said. James emphasized that the A-10 is not the only close air support platform in the Air Force, and that in Afghanistan, it has actually only performed 20 percent of the CAS mission. The rest has been done by AC-130s, F-15s, F-16s, B-52s, and B-1s; all of which will be retained. "We have got this," James said of the CAS mission, insisting the service won't let down its brethren in the other services. The F-35 also will eventually take over the CAS role, she said. Retiring the A-10s will save $3.5 billion over the future years defense plan, she said.
—John A. Tirpak

Notice, just like the F-4G Wild Weasel and the RF-4C Photo Phantom, the Air Force will intentionally scrap the A-10 so it cannot be used in the future.  This is done so that no one can ever question their wisdom.  It is also being done so that the aircraft cannot be re-cycled as firefighting airplane so that the government nepo-capitalists can help their buddies rip us off: http://www.aviationtrivia.info/A-10-Fire-Hog.php


What a sad day, however how so very expected.  When you want the very best for your country, look below O-6 level for help.