The Air Force has long been trying to get rid of its only dedicated close air support plane designed to directly support Army troops in combat. The Air Force descended into criminality to kill the A-10, their Great White Whale.
The Air Force has a long history of pretending to want to carry out its close air support for Army units in combat, no matter what BS they have to claim to believe.
Huh:
U.S. Air Force leadership are now accused of serious misbehavior (criminally deceiving Congress) by deliberately lying to Congress about their plans for the A-10 ground attack aircraft. The recent leaks include briefings describing how air force leaders planned to continue undermining the A-10 but deliberately sabotaging promised upgrades and sustainment (money for maintenance and operations of A-10s). The leaked documents included mention of the importance of keeping all of this from going public. That’s where the air force crossed the line into criminal conduct.
I suspected as much from the history of the issue: "Hostage standoff: The Air Force created this F-35 problem in an effort to get rid of the A-10."
I repeated a long-held belief in this post about a novel Air Force effort to get rid of the plane:
There is a joke amongst the A-10 community that discussions of getting rid of the A-10 started 2.5 minutes after the last one rolled off the Fairchild-Republic assembly line in 1984.
The A-10 no longer needs to come in low and slow to provide close air support, the major Air Force argument against the plane. The issue is really a matter of trust:
[Admittedly, the A-10 is not the only source of fires support for the Army.] But given how dishonestly the Air Force has dealt with the A-10 issue and other support for ground forces, the Army should care very much about the Air Force commitment to providing fire support when and where the Army needs it.
It's a matter of trust that the Air Force is squandering.
The Air Force actually proved itself to be really good at carrying out that mission over the last two decades. I respect the Hell out the service for that success. So Air Force brass dishonesty to avoid applying those skills to supporting the Army saddens and angers me.
I wouldn't mind getting rid of the aging A-10 so much if the Air Force showed any genuine interest in providing close air support to the Army with any plane with crews that are trained and dedicated for that mission and that mission alone.
But no, the Air Force would rather lie to Congress and the public in an effort to shed their role providing close air support. It's more than a crime. It's betrayal.
NOTE: My latest war coverage is here.
