Air Force A-10 Flying Tank Lives to Fight into the Future

Related Video Above: F-35s

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The “flying tank” will live to fight another day. Many days in fact, because the Air Force is now moving forward with a clear future plan for its famous A-10 Warthog aircraft, credited for saving many lives while absorbing massive amounts of incoming enemy fire.

Following years of debate, Congressional directives, pilot and soldier testimonials and even a Pentagon-led “fly-off” or competition assessment between the F-35 and A-10 to determine which platform would be superior performing the Close Air Support mission. As is often the case in these kinds of nuanced and highly complex determination, the answer appears to be a mixture of both aircraft in the force for the CAS mission.

A-10s Still Fly: Fleet Size Reduced to 218

The Air Force’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Lt. Gen. David Nahom, told The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that it plans to keep and upgrade the A-10, yet reduce the operational fleet size from 281 A-10s down to 218. The move, Nahom explained, will “right size” the A-10 force to seven instead of nine operational squadrons.

“We will leave one A-10 squadron in the Koreas, give three to the Guard, two to active duty and offer one A-10 squadron to Commanders in theater,” Nahom said.

The complexity and emotions surrounding the A-10s capability, continued relevance and distinguished history have made it a pressing and high focus issue for many years now among pilots, ground troops, weapons developers and members of Congress. The aircraft’s titanium hull creates a protective capsule to protect pilots from small arms fire, something which enables continued attack amid incoming enemy attack. As part of this equation, the A-10 operates with built-in redundancy such that it can continue to fly in the event that major component are disabled, damaged or even fully destroyed.