WASHINGTON -- The Warthog is sitting pretty.
Once on the brink of forced retirement, the A-10 attack plane with the ungainly shape and odd nickname has been given new life, spared by Air Force leaders who have reversed President Barack Obama's administration's view of the plane as an unaffordable extra in what had been a time of tight budgets.
In the 2018 Pentagon budget plan sent to Congress this week, the Air Force proposed to keep all 283 A-10s flying for the foreseeable future.
Three years ago, the Pentagon proposed scrapping the fleet for what it estimated would be $3.5 billion in savings over five years. Congress said no.
The next year, the military tried again but said the retirement would not be final until 2019. Congress again said no.
Last year, officials backed away a bit further, indicating retirement was still the best option but that it could be put off until 2022.
Now the retirement push is over, and the Warthog's future appears secure.
"The world has changed," said Maj. Gen. James Martin Jr., the Air Force budget deputy, in explaining decisions to keep aircraft once deemed expendable.
The Air Force has similarly dropped plans to retire the iconic U-2 spy plane amid prospects for bigger budgets under President Donald Trump. It also reflects the relentless pace of operations for combat aircraft and surveillance and reconnaissance planes that feed intelligence data to war commanders.
The service had complained for years that its inventory of aircraft was getting dangerously small and old. Gen. Mark Welsh, who retired as the top Air Force officer last year, was fond of describing the service as having 12 fleets of aircraft that qualify for antique license plates in the state of Virginia.
The A-10 is a special case. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., who flew the A-10 in combat and commanded a squadron in Afghanistan, speaks of it with obvious affection.
"The A-10 is this badass airplane with a big gun on it," she said she told Trump in a recent conversation, explaining why the Warthog is unlike any other attack aircraft.
The "big gun" to which she refers is a seven-barrel Gatling gun that is 9 feet long and fires 30mm armor-piercing shells at a rate of 3,900 rounds per minute. Also armed with Maverick missiles, the A-10 is not only effective in a conventional battle against tanks and other armored vehicles but also provides close-air support for Iraqi and other U.S. partner forces taking on Islamic State fighters in the deserts of Iraq and Syria.
The change will have no effect on the Air National Guard's 188th Wing in Fort Smith, Ark., said Tech Sgt. Chauncey Reed, a spokesman for the unit. Reed said they haven't had A-10 Warthogs since June 2014.
Formerly the 188th Fighter Wing, the unit in Fort Smith was re-designated in June 2014 as the 188th Wing and given an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission.
"We fly the MQ-9 Reaper," Reed said. "It's a remotely piloted aircraft." Reed said the 188th had a total of 20 Warthogs during a seven-year period that began in 2007. The 188th flew a series of different aircraft until it was stripped of its A-10s under the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.
Specially designed for the Cold War mission of attacking armor on the front lines of a potential European war with the Soviet Union, the A-10 was considered by its aircrews to be so ugly that they called it the Warthog. Its official nickname is Thunderbolt II. The plane has been out of production since 1984 but has received many upgrades over the years, most recently with new electronics.
Information for this article was contributed by Bill Bowden of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 05/27/2017