The U.S. Air Force has had a difficult time deciding what to do with its A-10 close-air support (CAS) attack plane. The Warthog, as the aircraft is known, was developed in the early 1970s, entered service in 1976, and is soon to be replaced by the F-35. How soon is the issue.
In an appearance earlier this week before the House Armed Services Committee, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the service will begin mothballing the plane in fiscal year 2018, four years earlier than the 2022 date Secretary of Defense Ash Carter had stated in early February. James told the committee that the decision was entirely budget-driven.
In June of 2015, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) questioned the Air Force’s plan to mothball the A-10, saying that the projected $4.2 billion in savings were based on incomplete evidence. That finding does not appear to have had much impact on Pentagon decision-makers.
Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) is the prime contractor for the F-35, the Air Force combat plane that is supposed to replace the A-10. Given constraints imposed by the federal Budget Control Act, the Air Force has determined that it makes more sense to begin drawing down the A-10 force and gearing up to build the F-35 force.
According to a report in Defense News, the Air Force plans to divest two A-10 squadrons, or 49 planes, in fiscal 2018. The service will retire 49 aircraft in fiscal year 2019, 64 in fiscal year 2020 and 96 in fiscal year 2021, a total of 258. There were 288 A-10s in service in 2015, according to data from Flight Global.
Budget constraints prevent the service from doing both. If the Air Force keeps the full fleet of A-10s flying until 2022, the service will be able to build only about half the manpower it needs to introduce the F-35 by its scheduled date of full operational capability in fiscal year 2021.
The A-10 is scheduled to go up against the F-35 in a series of comparative tests currently scheduled for 2018. It appears that the Air Force has already determined how those tests will turn out.
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