WASHINGTON – Once again the venerable A-10 Warthog has found a champion in Sen. Martha McSally. McSally rode to its rescue this week during a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on this year’s annual National Defense Authorization Act.
McSally kept her promise to keep the Air Force from mothballing the Warthog when she inserted language that prohibits the Secretary of Defense from divesting or retiring any A-10 aircraft.
McSally also required the Secretary of the Air Force to brief Congress on the required A-10 fleet size and validate the assumptions used to justify any future A-10 fleet size reductions.
“I flew 325 hours in combat in the A-10 and commanded the one deployable A-10 squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, so I know the unique capabilities that the A-10 brings to save American lives on the battlefield,” said McSally in a press release. “I stopped them from mothballing the A-10 when I first came to the House and did it again this year in the Senate. I authored this provision in this Senate defense bill and had it successfully adopted by the committee to save the A-10, again.”
The Warthog has been under attack by the Air Force for years. In 2014, the Air Force said that it planned to retire the A-10 by 2016 as a budget-cutting move, replacing it with F-16s in the short term and the newer F-35s that were then coming on line.
That plan was blasted at the time by then-Sen. John McCain, as “absolutely ridiculous.” Then in 2015, McSally and McCain successfully defended the A-10 fleet in the Fiscal Year 2016 defense bill.
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The Pentagon eventually backtracked on the A-10, due to intense pressure brought by McCain, McSally, troops, and members of the public.
The slow and low flying Warthog excels in ground support roles and is heralded for its effectiveness in ground battles like those waged against ISIS.
McSally has been credited by U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein for saving the A-10 attack jet from retirement.