US dispatching more A-10 Thunderbolts to Middle East

Air and Space Forces Magazine reports these A-10s are poised to double the number of Warthogs the US has deployed in the Middle East

The publication wrote, “Twelve A-10s from the 107th Fighter Squadron at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., flew from Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H., to RAF Lakenheath.”

This is in addition to the six A-10s that flew from Pease to Lakenheath on the 31st of March. Those are assigned to the 190th Fighter Squadron and based out of Gowen Field Air National Guard Base in Idaho.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said, “Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank and is hunting and killing fast attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz.”

US Air Force dispatches extra A-10 Warthogs for Operation Epic Fury

US Air Force deploys more A-10 Warthogs to the Middle East via RAF Lakenheath, doubling the number supporting operations against Iran.

aerospaceglobalnews.com

 

[Tall Timbers]

The last A-10 in the Air Force will make its final flight next year​

The last A-10 in the Air Force will be retired in 2026, two years earlier than previously planned.

In priorities for its 2026 budget released this week, the Air Force asked Congress for permission and funding to move up the planned retirement of the beloved close support fighter to the 2026 fiscal year, which runs until October 1, 2026.

“The probably key one that most folks will want to be aware of is the Air Force will divest the remaining 162 A-10 aircraft,” a senior defense official told reporters Thursday during a briefing on the service’s 2026 budget request. “They were originally set to divest over a time period into ’28. We’re set to divest all of those in ’26.”

Though the service has no direct replacement for the A-10 as a dedicated close air support platform, leaders have frequently said the plane — which entered service in the 1970s — would have difficulty surviving in a modern, high-tech battlefield.

The last A-10 in the Air Force will make its final flight next year

The service moved up the retirement of the final 162 close attack fighters by two years in a budget request and asked for far fewer F-35s.

taskandpurpose.com

Don't know if this article is accurate or not. The thing is, most of our potential adversaries won't be able to create high tech battlefields, and in some cases, lower tech weaponry like the A-10 is more effective in a low tech battlefield than high tech weaponry would be.

 

[Tall Timbers]

A-10s are striking Iranian boats. Some say it’s a ‘wake-up call’ to stop the Warthog’s retirement.​

A-10 Thunderbolt IIs are strafing boats in the Straits of Hormuz as part of President Trump’s war on Iran, and at least some experts say it shows why the venerable aircraft should remain in service.

"The A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank and is hunting and killing fast-attack watercraft in the Straits of Hormuz,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday.

The Defense Department posted images of the A-10 flying in U.S. Central Command airspace this week. CENTCOM praised the Warthog’s capabilities, noting in an X post on Sunday that the aircraft “can loiter for hours, standing by and ready to execute a mission whenever needed.”

The close-support aircraft, battle-proven in the Gulf War and Global War on Terror, has been threatened with retirement for decades. Congress has often pushed back; the most recent National Defense Authorization Act caps the number that can be scrapped until the Air Force details its retirement strategy. Experts told Defense One that the aircraft’s latest operations prove the war in Iran shouldn’t be the Warthog’s last rodeo.

A-10s are striking Iranian boats. Some say it’s a ‘wake-up call’ to stop the Warthog’s retirement.

Last year, Congress paused the aircraft’s retirement. Now it’s flying in Operation Epic Fury.

www.defenseone.com

 

[Andy C]

We can never have enough Hogs.

 

[dwb]

I can just hear the Cavalry charge - Bugle Call... over and over