Free Republic

Twelve U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft arrived Monday at an Estonian air force base as part of an operation to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, according to a U.S. Air Force report. The aircraft landed in the Baltic country after flying from Germany and are expected to spend the next six months training with NATO allies and other European partners. The aircraft are originally from the 23rd Wing at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, and are being used to augment the U.S. military's attempts to bring security and stability to Europe, according to the statement. The exercise,...

Defense Spending: The venerable A-10 Warthog, designed to stop Soviet tanks, and the perfect weapon to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State, as President Obama promised, faces a budgetary chopping block. We have noted the irony of how Obama was going to war against the Islamic State with weapons systems he had scrapped, ending the production runs of the F-22 Raptor and Tomahawk cruise missiles. They were dismissed by the administration as relics of the Cold War even as Russia was rearming and trying to reassemble the old Soviet Union. We've also mentioned the phasing out of the A-10 Thunderbolt,...

The U.S. Air Force has a complicated relationship with its low- and slow-flying A-10 Warthog attack jet. And that's putting it mildly. The flying branch has tried more than once to retire the ungainly A-10 in favor of speedier planes, only for ...

Months after staving off a trip to the boneyard, the embattled A-10 Thunderbolt II is headed to the Middle East where it could be used to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. An Indiana Air National Guard unit that flies the Cold War-era gunships, known as Warthogs, is planning to deploy about 300 airmen and an unknown number of its aircraft to the U.S. Central Command region early next month, says a Sept. 17 news release from the unit. The 122nd Fighter Wing, located at Fort Wayne Air National Guard Base, Ind., has 21 aircraft, though it’s uncertain how...

US Air Force pens A-10 maintenance deal with Korean Air By: Dan Parsons Washington DC Source: Flightglobal.com This story is sourced from Flightglobal.com With top officers still calling for the aircraft’s retirement as a cost-saving measure, the US Air Force has announced a major potential investment in depot maintenance for the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt.The air force on 9 September announced a $46 million contract award to Korean Air Lines Co. (KAL) for depot-level maintenance and repair of A-10s, commonly called Warthogs, stationed Osan Air Base, South Korea. The work will be performed at KAL’s facility in Seoul with an expected...

Phasing out the A-10 attack aircraft could cost Tucson 2,000 jobs — and that’s just one of many changes in store for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the proposed 2015 Air Force budget shows. If Congress approves the cuts, D-M would see ongoing — though, in some cases, diminished — missions including electronic warfare and unmanned aircraft operations. Among the proposed changes: •Most significantly, the base would lose its entire fleet of 83 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs by the 2019 fiscal year. •It also would lose seven EC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare planes by fiscal 2016. The base now operates 15 Compass...

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

Iraqi Armored Force Falls to U.S. Advance By CHRIS TOMLINSON .c The Associated Press NEAR NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - The alert crackled over the radio at midmorning Sunday: An armored column of more than 30 Iraqi vehicles was coming, and a company of the 3rd Infantry Division was ordered forward to dig in behind irrigation levees. Peering into the distance, the soldiers could barely make out the Iraqi vehicles. They seemed little more than blips on the horizon. Then the U.S. Air Force arrived. Slow-flying A-10 Thunderbolt attack planes swooped down and began picking off the Iraqi vehicles one by...