The BRRRRRRT! Lives On
Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
US Air Force extends A-10 Warthog through 2030
By Michael Scanlon
The United States Air Force is going to keep the A-10 Warthog in service through 2030, Secretary of the Air Force Troy E. Meink announced Monday on X, reversing a retirement timeline set to conclude in 2029.
“In consultation with [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], we will EXTEND the A-10 ‘Warthog’ platform to 2030,” Meink wrote. “This preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production.”
The decision comes as A-10s have seen increased involvement during Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
A-10s have provided close air support in maritime operations in the Strait of Hormuz and were involved in the recent search and rescue mission that recovered two downed F-15E airmen.
One A-10 Thunderbolt II crashed during that mission. The pilot was subsequently rescued.
The fiscal 2026 NDAA called for 103 A-10s to remain in service through September 2026, with a transition to full retirement by 2029.
It remains unclear how many A-10s will remain in service through 2030.
Meink thanked President Donald Trump for “quick, decisive leadership” and said “more to come.”
Category: Air Force, Big Pentagon, Trump!
A-10’s and B-52’s will always be.
So let it be written.
So let it be done.
Amen!!
Designs so good, you’d think they were created by St. John Moses Browning himself.
I was going to say that the A10 is the 1911 of the air battle platforms.
My dad’s B-17G with 13 of his M2’s would agree.
The late USAF Colonel Avery Kay spearheaded the concept & development of the A-10 in the late 60s. The air force generals weren’t happy about this. Especially the fighter mafia. The generals could have squashed the program in its infancy. One problem…the army generals backed Col Kay’s initiative for a CAS platform. Senior army generals testified on the Hill for either the air force to acquisition a modern CAS aircraft or the army be authorized resources for their own squadrons of fixed wing CAS planes. The air force leadership were pissed, but they had to go forward with the A-10 program. Yep, money talks and BS walks.
Remembering the father of the A-10 – YouTube
Indeed!
“Thunderstruck”
The A10 is a one trick pony but it does that trick oh so well.
Since it will be 50 this year it would be like having P 47 Thunderbolts serving in in the first Iraq war in 1992.
I have to wonder why not make new ones? Why replace the A10? Why not make new ones to replace the A10’s that are beyond repair? The bean counters would say because the enemies have made new planes and the old planes can’t keep up. So, again, why not make new ones with updated gizmos? The B-52’s have lots of different doo-dads they didn’t have when they were first made, and since they work, they work. It takes years of design and testing to take a plane from idea through drawings and testing to actually taking flight. Why the insistence on reinventing the wheel?
From what I hear, the tooling is long since scrapped.
I forgot about that. Tooling can be sooooo expensive. Years ago a customer wanted a custom part. I told him the part would cost him $100.00 each but the tooling to make the part would cost him thousands of dollars. He had to understand he was the only one that wanted the part and the tooling was only to make his part. I made no profit on the tooling. He had to decide how badly he wanted it.
If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.
We’re still flying C-130s.
My favorite aircraft.
A real workhorse that deserves a lot of respect for
it’s role in the Viet of the Nam “police action”.
Kudos to all that crewed the Hercs.
If the P47 would’ve still been effective, we probably would’ve kept them. 50 years old? It’s just a kid. The last B-52 built is 63.
Is there a replacement platform in the works?
I have yet to see one that will do what the A-10 can do when we have air supremacy. Seems like they should be held in reserve for just such a situation. Nothing says “kill them all and let God sort them out” like that Gatling style gun.
Sometimes, the right tool is low and slow, with a humongous BRRRRT.
Like this.
Nice. Bert goes Brrrrrrrt.
Bert is Evil.
I don’t l think the A-10 was developed to be used only when we had air supremacy. Not even the AF would be so arrogant as to think they could eliminate the Soviet AF quickly and completely enough to allow the A-10 to operate with impunity in a US/USSR war.
If we can have air mobile and paratroop units which rely even more on air superiority, I think we can afford to have an aircraft like the A-10 which can operate without it.
The idea is to sweep the local area clear of fighters and ADA. Then the killers move in. Works the same for helicopters.
The basic problem is that the USAF still thinks we won WW2 from the air. Nope. It was GI Joes with a Bayonet fixed Garand, and the 2-1/2 ton trucks that moved them. Nothing else gains -and holds- ground.
Not unique to the A-10, but the USAF has not invested in Electronic Warfare since some time last century. Stealth is not a be all end all but thats whats been seen as the panacea.
Stealth and ground attack rarely go together.
They aren’t mutually exclusive but there are limits. How many daylight raids have wee seen with the B-2 and F-117?
Daylight for the others. Everyone gets a turn.