Winning: Hog Heaven

[Valin]

Strategy Page

May 24, 2020:

The U.S. Air Force has finally decided to keep its popular, at least with pilots and infantry, A-10 attack aircraft. Nicknamed "Warthog" or just "hog", the A-10 never got much respect from air force leaders. The new plan reduces the A-10 force by 44 aircraft, to 237. These will equip seven squadrons. Three are active duty and four operated by part-time three National Guard and reserve personnel. The reserve units would be available within 30 days for use in an emergency. The reserve pilots are largely retired fighter pilots and tend to have more experience in the A-10 than the active duty pilots. The reservists fly regularly and their aircraft are kept in shape for regular operations.

Retiring 44 of the older A-10s makes it easier for the air force to afford continuing upgrades for the A-10s so they have the same new tech other warplanes have. This policy has seen the A-10s undergoing regular upgrades over the last two decades. These included new wings, a project that was finally completed in 2019. The air force now plans to keep the A-10s in service until 2040. One catch is that the air force will not allow A-10s to operate in airspace threatened by modern enemy air defense systems. Once these threats have been eliminated the A-10s can enter. Meanwhile the A-10s will get plenty of work dealing with Islamic terrorists and irregulars.

(Snip)

At one point the air force argued that the F-35 could replace the A-10 as a ground attack aircraft. One of the problems with using F-35s is that these cost $45,000 an hour to operate, more than twice what A-10s need. Moreover, only the A-10 can regularly go low and strafe enemy forces. F-16s and F-35s are too fast and unarmored to get away with that. The A-10 was designed to take a lot of hits and keep flying. A-10s have regularly demonstrated this reliability. Finally the air force admitted it would take fifteen years and a lot of money to develop an A-10 replacement. The current plan is to eventually turn that dangerous duty to a new generation of UAVs. This is something Predator and Reaper UAVs have already been handling, except for the low altitude strafing duty. This is often used to intimidate a stubborn foe and that still works. The A-10 makes a lot of noise when coming in low, with part of the racket coming from its 30mm autocannon. Again, this has been proven time and again. It is not a theoretical capability but very real and still in demand. No aircraft will ever duplicate that. When the A-10 finally retires in 2040 it will have been service 73 years, fifty of them after it was declared obsolete at the end of the Cold War and the threat from huge Russian armored forces.

 

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