Arizona Representative Ron Barber, joined by Representative Paul Gosar and 7 other congressional colleagues in a bipartisan letter, urged the Air Force not to divest itself of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, calling the attack jet “a combat-proven workhorse” that “provides a critical capability.”
Barber’s Republican challenger, and former A-10 pilot, retired Colonel Martha McSally, joined the growing chorus of voices in the fight for the Warthog in an interview on a Tucson radio show.
Barber, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also spoke on the floor of the house last week, calling the A-10 “unsurpassed in its ability to provide close air combat support for our troops on the ground.”
The A-10 is the main aircraft stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where the 355th Fighter Wing flies 82 of the planes. But because of across-the-board indiscriminate spending cuts known as sequestration, which Barber has adamantly opposed, the Air Force is considering retiring the aircraft.
The A-10 is nicknamed the “Warthog” and has been highly praised by ground troops. “One Army commander told me, whenever he heard the Warthogs show up, he knew that their day was about to get better,” Barber said in his remarks in the House.
In the congressional letter of support to Eric Fanning, Secretary of the Air Force, and Gen. Mark Welsh III, Air Force Chief of Staff, Barber wrote, “The A-10 Thunderbolt, as you know very well, is unsurpassed in its ability to provide close-air combat support for service members on the ground.”
“In Operation Desert Storm, the A-10 was responsible for the destruction of 4,000 military vehicles and artillery pieces,” Barber added. “In Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the A-10 has performed nearly one third of the combat sorties. In addition to close air support, the A-10 has also assisted in combat search and rescue operations, escorting helicopters and assets in and out of combat zones.”
New electronics have been installed on A-10s and just last year, the Air Force began installing new wings on all the planes. The rewinging has been completed on all A-10s based at D-M. The new wings and electronics were touted as cost-effective ways to extend the life of the planes until at least 2028.
Barber says that he is opposed to sequestration cuts and has called on his fellow members to “instead do the hard work of going through the federal budget to identify and cut programs that are ineffective, wasteful or unnecessary.”
In September 2012, Barber wrote to the Secretary of the Air Force advocating for basing the F-35 in Southern Arizona, given its proximity to test ranges and near-perfect flying weather.
Early in 2013, Barber prevented sequestration cuts that would have ended funding for Operation Angel Thunder, the world’s largest personnel rescue and recovery exercise, based at Davis-Monthan. Over the course of the last year, Barber and his staff have met with Air Force officials multiple times regarding the missions at Davis Monthan and the 162nd Fighter Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard.
Barber says he hosted SADA members in Washington with Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona earlier this year to meet with officials at the Pentagon and deliver the message of Southern Arizona’s widespread support for our men and women in uniform and the military missions in Tucson and Sierra Vista.
Flake acknowledged the A-10’s demise but attempted to comfort the people of Tucson with the possibility of the F-35 as a replacement. That provided no solace to Tucsonans who had watched as those charged with fighting for an opportunity to host the F-35 did little to keep the community informed and engaged. Luke Air Force Base won the right to host the F-35, and Tucson’s Air Force future was put at high risk.
Barber is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and says he advocated for Southern Arizona’s military installations in helping to write the legislation of the National Defense Authorization Act. Barber voted for both the Defense Authorization and Appropriation bills which included full funding for the A-10 through fiscal 2014.
Both bills passed the House this summer.
However, McSally says that Barber has been asleep at the wheel. McSally invited the public to come out in support of the Warthog. McSally’s move was a result of the work of New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte on behalf of the A-10. Ayotte introduced the 2015 POM.
While Flake claimed that the A-10 was not scheduled to be phased out in 2028, the 2015 POM included the mothballing of the highly popular aircraft.
Flake’s office went into damage control and promised to “push back” against the Arisona Daily Independent, which reported on the 2015 POM and Flake’s revelation that the Air Force had planned to mothball the aircraft completely and not simply reduce the force.
The letter Barber and his colleagues sent to Air Force officials:
September 19, 2013
Honorable Eric Fanning
Secretary of the Air Force
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington DC 20330-1670General Mark A. Welsh III
Air Force Chief of Staff
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington DC 20330-1670Dear Secretary Fanning, General Welsh:
We write to express our deep concern regarding recent reports that the United States Air Force is considering divesting itself of the A-10 Thunderbolt II in the near future. We are opposed to any effort by the Air Force to deprive Combatant Commanders of a combat platform that provides a critical capability.
The A-10 Thunderbolt, as you know very well, is unsurpassed in its ability to provide close-air combat support for service members on the ground. In Operation Desert Storm, the A-10 was responsible for the destruction of 4,000 military vehicles and artillery pieces. In Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the A-10 has performed nearly one third of the combat sorties. In addition to close air support, the A-10 has also assisted in combat search and rescue operations, escorting helicopters and assets in and out of combat zones.
The A-10 has provided the Air Force with decades of exemplary service and with a new retrofit of the airframe’s wing and electronics package, the A-10 can continue its close air support mission for decades to come. National security and the protection of our service members in combat areas must be paramount as we consider the needs of the Department of Defense. To deprive itself of such a combat-proven workhorse such as the A-10 would be a mistake and adversely impact the ability of the Air Force to support the warfighter on the ground.
As we continue the drawdown of forces in Afghanistan, we can ill afford to repeat past mistakes. The Department of Defense must maintain its ability to wage ground combat and support those at the tip of the spear. We believe divesting the Air Force of the A-10 at this point would deprive the Department of this capability. We request that you provide the proposed funding decisions for the A-10 Thunderbolt II program objective memorandum (POM) and the proposed future guidance and allocation of the airframe.
Sincerely,
RON BARBER
Member of CongressCANDICE S. MILLER
Member of CongressJACK KINGSTON
Member of CongressC.A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER
Member of CongressVICKY HARTZLER
Member of CongressMIKE SIMPSON
Member of CongressPAUL GOSAR
Member of CongressROB BISHIP
Member of CongressAUSTIN SCOTT
Member of Congress