THE U.S. AIR FORCE "isn't even remotely considering" replacing the A-10 Thunderbolt II, alias the Warthog, with a newer-generation, single-mission ground attack aircraft. "It isn't going to happen," said outgoing Air Force chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz on the 40th anniversary of the A-10's first flight on May 10. Gen. Mark Welsh, named to replace Schwartz on August 1, is not expected to change that decision. "The A-10 is a high-precision close air support weapon," Lt. Col. Brian "B.T." Burger told Flight Journal. He is the Arkansas Air National Guard officer slated to command the 184th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in Afghanistan this summer. "When we upgraded the A-10 fleet to the current A-10C configuration, we did a great thing." On January 26, in a surprise to observers in Washington, the administration announced that as part of its plan for fiscal year 2013 it would retire 102 A-10Cs out of the 356 currently in service (and 715 built altogether).
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