Posted on 06/16/2017 11:38:17 AM PDT by huldah1776
Not only has the fight not been won, but the Air Force's new arguments sound a lot like the old ones.
As more details emerge regarding the U.S. Air Force’s plans for the A-10 warthog in the 2018 fiscal year and beyond, it has become clear that the service’s apparent promise to maintain the entire remaining fleet of hardy attack aircraft was highly conditional and entirely temporary. The details come as the low- and slow flying planes continue to prove their worth in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Sadly, none of this is really surprising.
On June 7, 2017, two senior Air Force officials told the House Armed Services Committee that they were only planning on keeping at least six squadrons of A-10s through 2030. This stood in stark contrast to written statements from both the service and the Pentagon when it unveiled its portion of President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget in May 2017. Overview briefings stated, without the apparently necessary caveats, that the entire fleet of more than 280 aircraft across nine combat-coded squadrons would be “fully funded” for at least the next five years.
snip
As it turns out, the Air Force only requested money to “fully fund” the operations and maintenance costs – day-to-day expenses that include things like payroll, fuel, and basic preventive maintenance – associated with flying the A-10s. The service then shunted a request for money to replace the wings on more than 100 of the jets into its so-called “Unfunded Priorities List,” a wish-list separate from the budget proposal with items it hopes Congress might consider paying for if at all possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
Outrageous. Congress can fix this (again) with a budget mandate.
No one becomes a general via the A-10. That’s the problem in a nutshell.
This has gone on too long. If the air force can’t be bothered to give us CAS give us the planes and we’ll train some warrant officers to fly them.
I bet a Marine would.
The generals never wanted the A10 to begin with. It was forced on them. The airplane is not a high performance aircraft that general desire.
It is a work horse that does its job very well but is slow and ugly.
Funny thing is that it terrifies the enemy that is unlucky enough to fall under its gaze.
There was a service member from a drone “squadron” wearing a flight suit behind me in line at the grocery store yesterday here in Florida. I could not believe his girth. Not exactly the sharp end of the force there. LOL. We really need these A-10s, IMO.
There’s an idea. Give the planes to the Marine Corps or the Army.
Air Force would rather have three aircraft that could do the job of one A-10.
There’s an old story that an AF General used to say, “The A10 was designed around the nose gun, the F15 around the radar and the F16 around the ejection seat.”
A B-1b flying at 50,000 ft can do more damage with precision weapons...to precise targets on the ground...than a squadron of A-10’s.
Armor, vehicles, reinforced emplacements...none out of reach for destruction. Especially when using CBUs.
Idiots prefer new shiny gadgets...even if they don’t help the mission
That we have armed UAVs?
That they are organized into squadrons?
That their operators wear flight suits?
That one of these operators had girth you could not believe?
Why do you suggest that operators of armed UAVs are not the sharp end of the force?
Do you have reason to believe that this UAV operator was incompetent?
Move CAS, including fixed wing, exclusively to the Army and Marines.
AHHHHHH! I was wondering about the money, but didn’t consider the rank promotion! Obviously never been in the military. That makes perfect sense. sigh.
Used to be the case. Not anymore.
Most all generals have A10 time, rare to find one without Hog time.
I believe that.
And watch them go bankrupt trying to maintain the jet while in the field, as well as maintain logistics and weapons.
Can’t do it.
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