A-10 Being Retired Due To Lack Of Funding

[17thairborne]

Even at the best of times, medals is a touchy subject and I won't express my views here.

 

Very true...I should heed your comment, but only wish to place the credit where it is most due!

[manayunkman]

I'm on board with the idea that the Army would be the best benefactors of this fine weapon.

 

Or something very similar.

 

Thanks for those battle damage photos and the story of Killer Chick.

 

The A10 becomes even more interesting.

[FtrPlt]

Interesting thread!

 

Extremely unlikely the Army could/would get the A-10s. For the Army, the Johnson-McConnell agreement pretty much shut the door on Army aviation developing/using any types of armed fixed wing or tactical transport aircraft -- essentially prohibiting the Army from pursuing a Marine-Air type of tactical air force of its own. The trade-off was that it opened the door for armed (attack) helicopters. The same agreement is largely responsible for why, to this day, Army Aviation does not 'technically' perform CAS (reality is otherwise). The CAS manual -- JP 3-09.3 -- specifically excludes Army Aviation.

 

The reality is that the A-10 is non-survivable anywhere except the lowest-intensity battle space. It's greatest attribute (low and slow) are also its greatest weakness -- it can't climb fast enough or extend away fast enough. Loss projections from back in the 1980s (Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe) were pretty sobering. And that was against Gen-1 MANPAD/ADA systems.

 

Do we expect low-intesity/COIN conflicts in the near-term? Or do we need to prepare for proxy fights in the Pacific Rim against an expansionist China? I don't have a crystal ball to know the answer.

[willysmb44]

When I was still active duty Army, I was hearing rumors that the Army had tried to get the warhogs transferred to Army control for organic CAS. I'd known there was a DoD directive that said the Army can't fly tactical fast movers of their own (the Army has plenty of fixed wing aircraft, but mostly for transport or VIP use), but it was annoying for all of us to keep hearing that the AF wanted to rid themselves of the finest CAS bird ever built and wouldn't allow the Army to pick them up.

I'd never heard if the Marines ever voiced a desire to get their hands on some as they have plenty of fast movers. You'd think a warthog in Marine hands would be quite a combination but I'd assume that interservice rivalry would have precluded an official stande of Marines wishing to fly a historically Air Force bird...

[FtrPlt]

I'll be curious to see if the Army moves ahead with an attack variant of the tilt-rotor design. I think they could argue it keeps within the Johnson-McConnell agreement (Yes, Senator. It's clearly a helicopter and within the domain of Army aviation!). The V-22 can carry a pretty heavy load so a tandem seat version would allow for a lot of gun ammo as well as A-1/A-10 levels of external stores. Build a heavy lift and transport version and you could have commonality of parts as well as task-specific aircraft. The Air Force could then go and do whatever it is they feel like and leave moving mud to those with a deeper vested interested -- Army and USMC.

[Patchcollector]

Well,now that Chuck Norris has joined the fight to save the "Hog", it's all over but the shoutin'

 

 

Air Force leaders wanting to send the A-10 Thunderbolt to the bone yard already have any number of lawmakers criticizing them from Capitol Hill.

 

Now they’ve got “Lone Wolf McQuade” coming after them.

 

Action star Chuck Norris – an Air Force veteran – on Monday delivered an editorial roundhouse kick to the Air Force, arguing on the World Net Daily website that the “Warthog” – as it is known – still has plenty of fight left in it.

In the ongoing campaign against ISIS, Norris writes, “the A-10′s utility is warranted even more now than ever.”

“Its firepower capability, speed and accuracy, frequent war use, and the oft-painted teeth on its nose cone have made it one of the military’s most popular aircraft,” Norris wrote.

Norris said its “combination of large and varied ordnance load, long loiter time, accurate weapons delivery, austere field capability, and survivability has proven invaluable to the United States and its allies.”

Congress has been running interference against Pentagon plans to dump the plane, saving it through 2015 with $635 million drawn from the war funding budget. But the Air Force has made clear it wants to begin retiring the Thunderbolt fleet next year, linking the move to paying for the development of the Joint Strike Fighter.

In his column, Norris throws some jabs at Warthog critics, including Air Combat Command Commander Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, who is quoted as saying: “There’s only so much you can get out of that airplane. Those airplanes are gonna wear out.”

“But that statement is true of every airplane in existence, and even the sun!” Norris wrote. “The question is: Is the fleet of A-10 ready for retirement? I just celebrated my 75th birthday, but I’m nowhere near ready to head to the scrapheap. Some things improve with age, and the A-10 has done just that, too.”

Norris, a martial arts world champion who began training while in the Air Force in the late 1950s, has achieved almost folk legend status — portrayed as someone who can never be defeated and capable of bending man and nature to his will and fists.

The martial arts superstar has gained further recent fame with an influx of comedic one-liners about his perceived super powers such as — “Chuck Norris died 20 years ago, Death just hasn’t built up the courage to tell him yet,” or “Chuck Norris and Superman once fought each other on a bet. The loser had to start wearing his underwear on the outside of his pants.”

 

To further bring attention to and save the A-10, Norris is producing and selling a T-shirt with the words “Save the A-10” on the front, and on the back, “Chuck Norris’ First Born Son was a Warthog. He cried tears of ‘BRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT.”

 

All proceeds from the T-shirt sales will go toward his martial arts charity, Kickstart Kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a link to the story:

 

http://defensetech.org/2015/03/23/chuck-norris-writes-to-save-the-a-10-warthog-from-retirement/

[Vahe Demirjian]

The US Air Force last year said that it wants to retire the A-10 by the late 2020s:

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/03/09/us-air-force-wants-to-retire-all-a-10s-by-2029/