The A-10 is the Air Force's only dedicated close air support plane with the mission of helping ground forces in the thick of combat. With permission to begin retiring the old plane, the Air Force is forgetting all about the mission. What a shock.
Air Force officials have said they want to replace the A-10, affectionately known as the Warthog, with the F-35 as the service's primary close-air-support aircraft.
However, according to the Project on Government Oversight, a non-partisan watchdog group, the Air Force seems to be de-emphasizing close-air-support training for F-35 pilots.
Close air support, or CAS, is defined as strikes by fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft against targets that are close to friendly forces. Such missions can affect the outcome of a fight but are difficult and require close coordination with ground troops to avoid hitting friendly forces.
Although other US military branches also conduct close-air-support missions with other aircraft, none of them have specialized platforms like the A-10, and the Air Force is the only branch specifically assigned to "furnish close combat and logistical air support" to the Army.
The Air Force already telegraphed its disinterest in providing close air support:
I came close to weeping as I read about the devotion of an Air Force general to finding the perfect close air support (CAS) plane for the Army. Honestly, I felt a tear forming. ...
So the Air Force can describe plans for a magical A-100 Unicorn (ten times as good as the A-10!) if it let's them phase out the A-10 and kill it for good by scrapping them rather than putting them in storage in the desert before someone notices.
My defense of the A-10 was never about the plane. It was good. And still has useful roles. But it is old and must be retired eventually.
My interest in the plane was based on it being the only close air support plane in the arsenal for conventional ground warfare. And without the plane I did not think the Air Force would prioritize close air support for the Army using general purpose F-35s--even if the F-35 is superior in every way to the A-10 for providing ground support. Face it, the Air Force has many higher priority Air Force missions.
As I've long argued, it was a matter of trust:
Oh sure, the Air Force promises that multi-mission aircraft will continue to support the "mission" of ground support even when the asset designed for that mission is gone.
Yeah, I'm sure when the Air Force is prioritizing missions for their scarce multi-mission aircraft that ground support will be high on the list.
But by killing the only aircraft specifically designed just for ground support, the Air Force is very clearly telling us what their priorities are. The Air Force is essentially telling the Army (while denying this to Congress) to have a nice life--but goodbye. To think they were once the Army Air Force.
So yeah, with only variations in the reason offered, this is news from every day since the first A-10 rolled off the production line:
The Air Force wants to speed up the retirement of its remaining A-10 Warthogs to fund new weapons it says are better suited to counter China.
I was clearly right to not trust the Air Force on the A-10. You wonder why the Army wants very long range ground-based fire support?
UPDATE: The Air Force is more interested in messaging than the mission:
Despite retiring A-10s to find the savings needed to afford new systems, [Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.] said he has forbidden his staff from using the phrase “divest to invest.” Instead, “we are transitioning to the future,” Brown said.
Transitioning to a future of Army troops screaming into their radios for urgent air support that will never arrive. Mission accomplished.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 continues here.
