Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, said Thursday that Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh will be given the document to review soon.
"That [close-air support] replacement airplane, I have seen a draft of it, it's out for coordination. It'll go to the chief sometime this spring and let the chief shape it, he's our chief requirements officer also in the Air Force, and then we'll fold that into the larger study we're doing on the future of the combat air forces," Holmes said, according to Defense News.
The Air Force has tried for several budget cycles to retire the A-10, saying that it needs the money to bring the new F-35, along with all the maintenance staff it requires, online. But lawmakers have repeatedly refused, because they hear from troops that the A-10 is still the best aircraft to provide close-air support in the fight against the Islamic State.
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7 comments:
Retiring the A-10 is pure stupidity. It's the single best, close air support aircraft ever created.
The F-35 has been in the air since 2006, TEN YEARS AND IT STILL DOESN'T WORK! Make it work and prove it outperforms the A-10 first. THEN, maybe you can REPLACE it.
Until then, we need to keep making and using the A-10.
Osama don't want the armed forces using a great Killing Machine against his relatives.
Nothing can replace the Warthog!
The F-35 is a hole in the air into which we throw money.
I saw one of those F-35s fly over the other day. It had to have a F/A-18 along side to help it back to Pax River.
the f35 will get straightened out and set the standard for the next generation of fighter aircraft. The next generation replacement CAS aircraft will benefit from the technological milestones achieved with the f35. the f35 can not perform the way an a10 can, and to think otherwise is a pipe dream.
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