Defense spending bill would fund A-10 rewinging

More than 100 A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jets would be retrofitted with new wings, under an amendment by Rep. Martha McSally to a defense appropriations bill passed Thursday by the House.

The amendment, which would provide $100 million for the wing upgrades, is the latest move by the Tucson Republican and former A-10 pilot to save the “Warthog” — a mainstay of operations at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base — amid Pentagon efforts to retire the entire A-10 fleet.

McSally said in a news release that 110 of the 1970s-era A-10s lack the wing upgrades needed to keep them flying even though Congress has blocked Pentagon efforts to scrap the Warthog, led by McSally in the House and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Phoenix.

Earlier this year, the Air Force said it would delay the originally proposed A-10 retirement date by three years to 2022, though some cuts could start in 2018.

McSally says that unless the aircraft get new wings, the Air Force estimates it would have to mothball 13 A-10s by fiscal 2018, 28 by fiscal 2019, and nearly 50 by fiscal 2021.

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New wings have been purchased for 173 of the 283 A-10s in the fleet, under a billion-dollar retrofitting program awarded to Boeing in 2007. Along with other upgrades, the rewinging was intended to keep the A-10 flying until 2028.

McSally said the rewing funding, along with other efforts, would further secure the Warthog’s future.

In addition to backing the retirement ban and funding measures, McSally also won support for an amendment requiring the Air Force to hold a “fly off” against the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to compare the aircrafts’ prowess at close air support and combat search and rescue.

“Along with a recent provision I advocated for mandating an A-10, F-35 fly-off and prohibiting the retirement of any more A-10s until this occurs, this new funding sends a clear signal that Congress strongly backs our entire A-10 fleet,” McSally said in prepared remarks.

Besides protecting the A-10, the defense appropriations bill would fully fund the EC-130H Compass Call, an electronic-warfare plane based solely at D-M, as well as missions at Fort Huachuca.