JONAH BENNETT
3:05 PM 05/23/2017
President Donald Trump’s defense budget
includes a proposal to fully reverse plans to retire the much-beloved
A-10 aircraft, according to documents released Tuesday.
While the final budget will by no means be
identical with the president’s proposed budget, the new documents Tuesday
indicate the president places a strong priority on keeping A-10 aircraft in
the game, which will come as good news to ground troops who often rely on the
jet for close-air support.
The budget overview states that “this budget fully funds
the entire fleet of 283 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs. Fleet strategy and viability will
be assessed as the Air Force determines a long term strategy.”
While the A-10 was supposed to slowly be sidelined beginning in fiscal year 2018 on
paper, it appears the budget is proposing the exact opposite, though during the
close of the Obama administration, then-Secretary of the Air Force Deborah
James said in October that the service is thinking about keeping the A-10
around for a longer period of time.
The A-10 has seen extensive use in Iraq and
Syria to fight against Islamic State militants, and the fighter jet has turned
out to be so useful that the Air Force put out a $2 billion contract to replace
the fleet’s wings.
In the past, Air Force leadership has pushed
hard to mothball the A-10, in order to devote those resources to the F-35,
which has seen incredible cost overruns and delays as the military’s most
expensive weapons system in history.
And although Congress has thwarted this
attempt multiple times, Air Force officials have still been looking to replace the A-10 with other
aircraft like the A-29 Super Tucano, the AT-6 Wolverine and the AirLand
Scorpion. The Air Force intends to test these three jets in July.
Send tips to jonah@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Original post: dailycaller.com
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A-10 Thunderbolt: Details
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