The A-10 has been spared until December 31, 2014, due to the efforts of the public, Senator Kelly Ayotte and Congressman Ron Barber. Despite the tremendous out-pouring of support for the plane, its reprieve is short-lived if the Air Force gets its way.
In a piece for Harper’s, Andrew Cockburn writes, “The characteristics that enable the A-10 to observe the battleground with such precision, and safely to target enemy forces a stone’s throw away from friendly troops, should ensure it a long life — at least until a superior replacement is developed. But the Air Force has other plans. Assuming the leadership gets its way, all A-10 units will be disbanded in 2015, and the aircraft itself will be junked. Close support will be assigned to the B-1 bomber fleet, along with various jet fighters, including the F-35, which has yet to undergo operational testing and is estimated to cost $200 million per plane.”
To be more specific, the Air Force is proposing that all active duty A-10 units be divested in FY 2015-2016, including the Air National Guard unit in Boise. All Guard and Reserve A-10 units will be divested in FY 2017-2019.
As a result, two pieces of legislation are being forwarded to ensure that the A-10 does not go away until there is legitimately something in place to replace it. In the Senate, current sponsors/cosponsors of S.1764 are Senators Ayotte, Blunt, Crapo, McCaskill, Graham, Isakson, and Baldwin. In the House, current sponsors/cosponsors of HR.3657 are representatives Barber, Bishop, Hartzler, Kingston, Miller, Scott, and Shea-Porter.
Arizona Senator Jeff Flake says he cannot support the A-10 and the FY14 National Defense Authorization Act because passing the funding would have only “hindered the Pentagon’s ability to make the tough choices that will be necessary in the wake of budget cuts, sequestration, and the drawdown in Afghanistan.”
Flake’s response clearly demonstrates that the Air Force’s propaganda campaign, which promotes the idea that we will no longer fight wars on the ground, is taking hold of the simpler minds in the U.S. Senate.
It is those simple minds and their inability to challenge the experts that has allowed the Air Force to even consider abandoning the A-10. Fortunately for the troops on the ground, Ayotte has not been willing to blindly accept the death verdicts for the plane and many of the troops it protects.
Those “experts” in the Air Force have resented the A-10 since it came into being. According to Cockburn, “The Air Force had to live with the instrument of its victory, an aircraft that represented everything that it had fought so hard to escape. From early on, the A-10 was treated as the poor relation, unwelcome at the feast. During the Reagan years, a golden age for the military-industrial complex, the Air Force showered money on such cherished programs as the B-1 bomber and the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. Meanwhile, the generals shut down the A-10 production line in 1984 (thirty-seven of the original 750 were still to be built) and firmly nipped in the bud any initiative to develop a replacement. In 1988, General Robert Russ, head of Tactical Air Command, announced in the semi-official pages of Air Force Magazine that the A-10 had been far outclassed by such favorites as the F-16. “Slow ducks,” Russ told his readers, “will be dead ducks.”
Cockburn notes that no A-10s were included in the initial air deployment for the Gulf War. Cockburn writes:
Legend has it that General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander-in-chief of the expedition, was well aware of the plane’s potency against enemy armor, so he demanded of his air commander, General Charles Horner: Where was the A-10?
“Oh,” replied Horner, “the F-16s can do the job.”
“Don’t give me that Air Force political bullshit,” snapped Schwarzkopf. “Bring me the A-10!”
It was a wise decision. While precision-guided bombs and missiles captured the imagination of the media and the public, thanks to the new CNN-funneled video footage they provided, these weapons turned out to be less useful at destroying targets — especially if the targets were moving. It was left to 144 grudgingly deployed A-10s to dispatch the bulk of the Iraqi armor, along with truck convoys, radar sites, and other crucial targets. Some A-10s even flew off “hasty bases,” rough strips secretly laid deep inside Iraq’s western desert, the better to hunt for elusive Scud missile launchers. So useful did they prove that Horner, by all accounts an emotional character, was inspired at the war’s end to send a signal back to Washington stating, “The A-10 saved my ass.”
Few know that in Desert Storm, Brigadier General Gloson, who worked for General Horner, grounded the USAF F-16s in the theatre for the last two weeks of Desert Storm because they could not hit anything. The pilots were dropping bombs near transonic because the aircraft is extremely vulnerable, and the pilots were concerned about getting shot down. Transonic, meaning faster than intended, caused all ballistics assumptions to go out the window.
Also Read A-10: The most terrifying yet beautiful sound I have ever heard
Also, God in His infinite wisdom and apparent penchant for irony, blessed Horner with a son who turned out to be an A-10 pilot.
But we digress.
Now, it is time for the public to save the A-10’s ass. A-10 pilots and the boots on the ground are asking the public to contact every single one of their senators and representatives and demand that they support S.1764 and HR.3657. The Air Force has divulged their plan to use F-35, but everyone knows it cannot replace the A-10.
If the Air Force refuses to accept that reality, our representatives must see that they do not have a choice.
Senate contact numbers:
Alexander, Lamar (TN)(202) 224-4944
Ayotte, Kelly (NH)(202) 224-3324
Baldwin, Tammy (WI)(202) 224-5653
Barrasso, John (WY)(202) 224-6441
Baucus, Max (MT)(202) 224-2651
Begich, Mark (AK)(202) 224-3004
Bennet, Michael F. (CO)(202) 224-5852
Blumenthal, Richard (CT)(202) 224-2823
Blunt, Roy (MO)(202) 224-5721
Booker, Cory A. (NJ)(202) 224-3224
Boozman, John (AR)(202) 224-4843
Boxer, Barbara (CA)(202) 224-3553
Brown, Sherrod (OH)(202) 224-2315
Burr, Richard (NC)(202) 224-3154
Cantwell, Maria (WA)(202) 224-3441
Cardin, Benjamin L. (MD)(202) 224-4524
Carper, Thomas R. (DE)(202) 224-2441
Casey, Robert P., Jr. (PA)(202) 224-6324
Chambliss, Saxby (GA)(202) 224-3521
Coats, Daniel (IN)(202) 224-5623
Coburn, Tom (OK)(202) 224-5754
Cochran, Thad (MS) (202) 224-5054
Collins, Susan M. (ME) (202) 224-2523
Coons, Christopher A. (DE) (202) 224-5042
Corker, Bob (TN) (202) 224-3344
Cornyn, John (TX)(202) 224-2934
Crapo, Mike (ID)(202) 224-6142
Cruz, Ted (TX)(202) 224-5922
Donnelly, Joe (IN)(202) 224-4814
Durbin, Richard J. (IL)(202) 224-2152
Enzi, Michael B. (WY)(202) 224-3424
Feinstein, Dianne (CA)(202) 224-3841
Fischer, Deb (NE)(202) 224-6551
Flake, Jeff (AZ)(202) 224-4521
Franken, Al (MN)(202) 224-5641
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (NY)(202) 224-4451
Graham, Lindsey (SC)(202) 224-5972
Grassley, Chuck (IA)(202) 224-3744
Hagan, Kay R. (NC)(202) 224-6342
Harkin, Tom (IA)(202) 224-3254
Hatch, Orrin G. (UT)(202) 224-5251
Heinrich, Martin (NM)(202) 224-5521
Heitkamp, Heidi (ND)(202) 224-2043
Heller, Dean (NV)(202) 224-6244
Hirono, Mazie K. (HI)(202) 224-6361
Hoeven, John (ND)(202) 224-2551
Inhofe, James M. (OK)(202) 224-4721
Isakson, Johnny (GA)(202) 224-3643
Johanns, Mike (NE)(202) 224-4224
Johnson, Ron (WI)(202) 224-5323
Johnson, Tim (SD)(202) 224-5842
Kaine, Tim (VA)(202) 224-4024
King, Angus S., Jr. (ME)(202) 224-5344
Kirk, Mark (IL)(202) 224-2854
Klobuchar, Amy (MN)(202) 224-3244
Landrieu, Mary L. (LA)(202) 224-5824
Leahy, Patrick J. (VT)(202) 224-4242
Lee, Mike (UT)(202) 224-5444
Levin, Carl (MI)(202) 224-6221
Manchin, Joe, (WV)(202) 224-3954
Markey, Edward J. (MA)(202) 224-2742
McCain, John (AZ)(202) 224-2235
McCaskill, Claire (MO)(202) 224-6154
McConnell, Mitch (KY)(202) 224-2541
Menendez, Robert (NJ)(202) 224-4744
Merkley, Jeff (OR)(202) 224-3753
Mikulski, Barbara A. (MD)(202) 224-4654
Moran, Jerry (KS)(202) 224-6521
Murkowski, Lisa (AK)(202) 224-6665
Murphy, Christopher (CT)(202) 224-4041
Murray, Patty (WA)(202) 224-2621
Nelson, Bill (FL)(202) 224-5274
Paul, Rand (KY)(202) 224-4343
Portman, Rob (OH)(202) 224-3353
Pryor, Mark L. (AR)(202) 224-2353
Reed, Jack (RI)(202) 224-4642
Reid, Harry (NV)(202) 224-3542
Risch, James E. (ID)(202) 224-2752
Roberts, Pat (KS)(202) 224-4774
Rockefeller, John D., IV (WV)(202) 224-6472
Rubio, Marco (FL)(202) 224-3041
Sanders, Bernard (VT)(202) 224-5141
Schatz, Brian (HI)(202) 224-3934
Schumer, Charles E. (NY)(202) 224-6542
Scott, Tim (SC)(202) 224-6121
Sessions, Jeff (AL)(202) 224-4124
Shaheen, Jeanne (NH)(202) 224-2841
Shelby, Richard C. (AL)(202) 224-5744
Stabenow, Debbie (MI)(202) 224-4822
Tester, Jon (MT)(202) 224-2644
Thune, John (SD)(202) 224-2321
Toomey, Patrick J. (PA)(202) 224-4254
Udall, Mark (CO)(202) 224-5941
Udall, Tom (NM)(202) 224-6621
Vitter, David (LA)(202) 224-4623
Warner, Mark R. (VA)(202) 224-2023
Warren, Elizabeth (MA)(202) 224-4543
Whitehouse, Sheldon (RI)(202) 224-2921
Wicker, Roger F. (MS)(202) 224-6253
Wyden, Ron (OR)(202) 224-5244
In Arizona call:
| Senator John McCain | 202-224-2235 | 602-952-2410 | www.mccain.senate.gov/ |
| Senator Jeff Flake | 202-224-4521 | 602-840-1891 | www.flake.senate.gov/ |
| Rep Ann Kirkpatrick(D1) | 202-225-3361 | 520-316-0839 | www.kirkpatrick.house.gov/ |
| Rep Ron Barber(D2) | 202-225-2542 | 520-881-3588 | www.barber.house.gov/ |
| Rep Raul M. Grijalva(D3) | 202-225-2435 | 520-622-6788 | www.grijalva.house.gov/ |
| Rep Paul A. Gosar(R4) | 202-225-2315 | 480-882-2697 | www.gosar.house.gov/ |
| Rep Matt Salmon(R5) | 202-225-2635 | 480-699-8239 | www.salmon.house.gov/ |
| Rep David Schweikert(R6) | 202-225-2190 | 480-946-2411 | www.schweikert.house.gov/ |
| Rep Ed Pastor (D7) | 202-225-4065 | 602-256-0551 | www.pastor.house.gov/ |
| Rep Trent Franks (R8) | 202-225-4576 | 202-225-4576 | www.franks.house.gov/ |
| Rep Kyrsten Sinema (D9) | 202-225-9888 | 602-956-2285 | www.sinema.house.gov/ |