In light of the recent coverage by the Arizona Daily Star on the future of Davis Monthan and the A-10, one thing is crystal clear: too many people, with too little information, are saying too much that isn’t true. Supposed experts like failed former State Senator Frank Antenori are making claims that are utterly baseless and that have caused a sort of paralysis in the community.
That paralysis is hurting the chances of saving the A-10 and the base that supports it.
Case in point, on Saturday, appearing on an obscure radio station, Antenori claimed that the Air Force wants to keep the A-10, despite the fact that the Air Force has made it very clear that they want to be rid of the A-10 and free it’s self of the Close Air Support mission.
It is only because of the work by Arizona Senator John McCain, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, and former Congressman Ron Barber, that the plane has survived into 2015. Congresswoman Martha McSally took up Barber’s fight, but as the NDAA heads to the House for markup this week, the plane’s future is still in question.
Statements such as those made by Antenori this weekend make that battle more difficult. When so-called experts, like Antenori give completely specious information, the battle becomes almost impossible.
Antenori claimed on Saturday, “You have this fight over the A-10, and you have the Air Force Chief-of-Staff, and the Secretary of the Air Force in a committee hearing, and you – know you have John McCain up there and John McCain was beating them up about phasing the A10 out the general said ‘look sir I don’t want to get rid of the A-10 and they don’t want to get rid of the A-10. The Air Force doesn’t want to get rid of that airplane.”
“Technically they have to because they’ve got other programs that they are trying to find,” continued Anetenori. “They don’t have the money because Congress cut their money off and he told McCain straight up ‘Sir if you give me $3.2 billion over the next five years, I’ll keep that airplane. He told him straight up – that’s what it would take. It’s not hard to keep the A-10. You want to save the A-10? Give the Air Force the money they need to support both the ground crews, the equipment, maintenance, and support for that aircraft including the upgrades and maintenance of the A-10 as well as the Joint Strike Fighter – and he basically said that I have – ‘I don’t have any more money for personnel. So the guys that are fixing the A-10 – I got to pull them from the A-10 and retrain them to fix the Joint Strike Fighter. If you gave me the money I could keep both’ and that’s really what it comes down to. It’s that simple, but we’re underfunding our military…”
Antenori then claimed, “Here’s the problem that the Air Force has; the company that made that airplane is not in business anymore. That’s the biggest problem. So Fairchild was the company that built the A-10 and a lot of the drawings – particularly the manufacturing drawings – they can’t find them and they don’t – nobody really knows what – they have some of the basic drawings – the schematics and whatnot – but the actual drawings on how to build the plane – they just don’t have. So it would be extremely expensive to build new ones of those and then the Air Force actually said, ‘if you follow – again what’s going on in the defense world – that they would consider a replacement aircraft that was similar and capability to the A-10 – a Close Air Support, multi-role aircraft, but they don’t have the funding for it, and again it comes down to funding. Do you want to pay for it?”
Fairchild Republic engineering drawings and schematics for the plane can be found in multiple engineering rooms around the country, and most likely in the Raytheon complex in Tucson at which Antenori himself works. Raytheon has been working on the Helmet Mounted Integrated Targeting (HMIT) system for Air Force and Air National Guard A-10C and F-16C Block 30/32 aircraft, since at least 2010. Boeing is working on the wings, and Lockheed in Owego, New York has been working on its avionics.
The A-10 is capable of flying at least another 15 years – if the Air Force would let it.
It is the Air Force’s desire to rid itself of the Close Air Support mission that that has been most misunderstood. Guys like Antenori have bought into, and forward the big lie that the Air Force’s position on the A-10 has to do with money. He even goes so far as to describe a congressional hearing to prove his lie.
The problem is that no one can recall the testimony he describes, and audio of it has not been found to date. In fact, when Senator Lindsey Graham has met with USAF officials on occasion, he has asked them if more money would prevent the Air Force’s A-10 mothballing plans. According to sources, each time, he was told “no” in no uncertain terms.
Only months ago, Arizona Congresswoman, and former A-10 pilot Martha McSally exposed Secretary of Air Force Debra James and Air Force Chief of Staff, General Mark Welsh and the big A-10 lie.
Following the same line of questioning by her predecessor Congressman Ron Barber last year, McSally asked James and Welsh, if given unlimited funds would they save the A-10. The two scrambled and fell over each other in their effort to dodge the question.
While Antenori’s propaganda reach is extremely limited, the Arizona Daily Star has done considerable damage in its effort to “inform” the public on the fate of the base and the A-10.
The paper ended its weeklong series, dedicated to misinforming the public on the viability of a non-flying mission, on Sunday with a recommendation –typical of the Star – to create one more government job.
They suggest that the various local governments “hire a full-time public employee whose task is to do everything possible to protect D-M over the long haul, not just against today’s threats.” The Star calls this person the navigator, and that “navigator would report to the county and other municipalities that fund the position, and work closely with an appointed citizens’ advisory panel that would offer feedback and recommendations about strategy. We propose the Tucson city manager and Pima County administrator each appoint two members to the panel, the DM50 and/or SADA select two members and that the group name a retired member of the military community with command-level experience as the seventh member.”
They still don’t get it. They are still listening to the DM-50, which is a group of volunteers that spend most of their time planning picnics for base personnel. Other than a few short trips to talk to Arizona representatives on the Hill, and occasional picnics, the DM-50 has done little to secure the base’s future. Quite honestly they can’t. They do not have the credentials to get into the offices on the Hill that matter, even if they tried. A navigator might have a shot at those offices if they have 20 years plus of experience in the fighter community, but even then, if they are not fighting for existing and future flying missions, they are not securing a future for the base.
As a bridge to D-M’s exciting future, opposing any premature retirement of the A-10, the best close-air support weapon in our nation’s arsenal, has been a top priority for me. There is simply no replacement for the A-10 and the close-air support it gives our ground troops. That is why I worked to prohibit the Pentagon from prematurely mothballing the A-10 aircraft in the NDAA, which will preserve D-M’s contribution to the nation’s defense. ~ D-M’s value to national security is clear, by John McCain
The “plan” forwarded by the City of Tucson’s lobbyist to seek out a “central operations base” mission is so ludicrous; it is hard to even imagine that the “expert” suggested it with a straight face. Surely, the base will go away if the planes do. That is the reality of today’s Air Force.
One of the few truly candid statements the crack Star staff made was: “The Air Force will make its own decision about the fate of D-M, but we have an opportunity to make a difference in the equation. We should come together and take it.”
There is little that can be done if the Air Force wants to add a mission or end one. The public, and the public’s representatives can advocate for new and existing missions, and they must. Of course, the Star believes that the effort will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In reality, just like with the Air Force, it isn’t a matter of money; it is a matter of desire. We must find one or two people, who actually know what they are taking about, and have the honesty to share that knowledge with the people on the Hill and the people of southern Arizona.