Thu, Jun 02, 2022
USAF’s A-10 Rusty Penny! Back In 20
The United States Air Force (USAF) brass has had their knuckles cracked trying to push the “Warthogs” A-10 Thunderbolt II into the dust bucket yet again.
It wasn’t that long ago, actually it was 2019 when the USAF Materiel Command issued a statement about having completed re-winging the last of the A-10’s and that the fleet would be ‘good’ until the late 2030’s. This project cost a whopping $1 billion to line Boeing’s pockets in 2007 to replace the wings on about 280 aircraft.
At the time, the USAF estimated that the upgraded wings should last about 10,000 flight hours, and that thanks to some ‘improvements’ in the wire harnesses, its an almost damage-free process to remove the wings. Perhaps too many guards have changed post, those who green-lit the re-winging are no longer around, and the new kids on the block want to start anew and make their own mark by securing F-35’s because they saw no need for close-air support.
The A-10 has proved itself time and again as resilient to battle damage, and a welcome supporter to troops on the ground. Following the initial re-winging back in 2019, A-10 test pilot Lt. Col. Ryan Richardson, commander of the 514th Flight Test Squadron had flown the last A-10 that was re-winged and declared it airworthy. Adding that “it flew great and passed all the [functional check flight] checks. It’s unusual to have an airplane in production for as long as this one was and have it come out and fly as well as this one did.”
Thankfully, someone saw the light and it’s been decided to leave the Warthog be…and just write another check for spare wings instead! A 50-year-old design still has usefulness, in the right hands. Case in point, Stallion 51 whose work with the USAF using ‘antique’ airplanes has an exemplary safety record, graduates who are better pilots for being able to fly powerful workhorses without all the whiz bang technology and electronics, and should all that fancy stuff go off-line, they can still fly the plane!
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