More than a third of the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of A-10 Warthogs will end up permanently grounded if the service doesn’t find the money to buy them new wings, and the senior civilian in charge of the A-10 says that’s not going to happen. Such a decision would be another nail in the coffin of the beloved close air support aircraft, which the service has been trying to retire for nearly three decades.

The A-10 Warthog was first introduced in the late 1970s to counter Soviet tank formations that threatened to steamroll Western Europe. While the A-10 never flew in combat over Germany, it has flown thousands of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heavily armed, heavily armored twin-engine jet is a favorite of the ground troops, capable of laying down a protective barrage of cannon fire, rockets, missiles, and bombs.

In 2007, according to Flightglobal, Boeing won a $2 billion contract to deliver 242 new wing sets for the 280-strong A-10 fleet, replacing worn-out wings that would render the airplanes unflyable. Here things get a little confusing: Boeing says it has delivered 173 kits with several more on backorder, while the defense reform watchdog Project on Government Oversight (POGO) says only 171 have been delivered. Despite the 242 number, Boeing says the Air Force never extended the contract beyond 173 sets.

At any rate, that leaves approximately 110 aircraft that still need new wings. In December, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson supported the re-winging, saying that although it wasn’t in the Air Force’s budget the service would do it if the funds were included. Wilson concluded her remarks on the matter by saying, “I happen to be kind of a fan of the A-10 myself.”

That fanhood has its limits, however. As The War Zone points out, the Air Force placed the re-winging effort in its “unfunded projects” category. That category is usually a laundry list of items an armed service would like Congress to pay for but are not important enough to earn a line in the service’s budget. It’s the Pentagon’s version of, “I’d take it if someone gave it to me, but I’m not paying for it myself.” That hardly suggests that keeping large numbers of A-10s in service is a priority.

The 2018 defense budget, which has not yet become official, allocates $103 million to establish a new production line and build four sets of wings as a warmup, with more wings to be produced if the money is found. However, the looming threat of a budget shutdown, and the likelihood that the government will be funded by yet another continuing resolution, would push back any decision until February.

All of that may be moot, however, as apparently the service is walking back its commitment to the re-winging effort. The War Zone reports that Todd Mathes, the A-10 Program Element Manager for Air Combat Command, “made the service’s position clear at a routine review meeting."

From The War Zone:

"Todd Mathes stressed that a rebooted re-wing program for the Warthogs “was not going to happen,” the anonymous individuals told POGO. This in turn would allow the Air Force to eliminate three A-10 squadrons, reducing the total number from nine to six. This is an idea the service floated in 2017, only to meet significant resistance from the aircraft’s supporters in Congress."



The Air Force has been trying to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II for nearly three decades, since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The A-10’s popularity with ground forces and Congress has kept it in service despite repeated attempts to kill it. Air Force critics charge that refusing to pay for the re-winging effort is yet another attempt to squeeze and ultimately retire the A-10, this time out of budgetary neglect.

The majority of A-10s have already received new wings and will remain airworthy into the 2030s, but for more than 100 planes, a third of the fleet, the future is uncertain.

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