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Published on Thursday, July 20, 2006
Old Warthogs to get new life
By Henry Cuningham
Military editor
Sixteen years ago, the Air Force was about to get rid of the A-10. Now the Air Force plans to keep the Warthog for 22 more years.
“The A-10 is proposed to stay in the inventory till 2028,” said Col. Warren L. Henderson, commander of the 23rd Fighter Group at Pope Air Force Base.
The aircraft, which is known for flying low and slowly over battlefields in support of ground troops, will be upgraded to the A-10C configuration. The upgraded aircraft will have more computer technology and precision-guided weapons and the ability to shoot from higher altitudes in all weather.
The first A-10 was deployed in 1976, according to the Air Force. Last year, Henderson was the pilot when Aircraft 697 hit the 11,000-hour mark, setting a record for the A-10.
“A lot of people like to poke fun at the A-10 because it’s old and it’s slow,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t have all the fancy weapons, but there’s a lot to be said, and our customers tell us this, for a system that has staying power, can service a target over and over and over again, that has a big gun and knows how to use it. There’s just no beating that.”
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego of New York has the contract for the $300 million program to develop the Precision Engagement upgrade of the Air Force’s fleet of 356 aircraft for 21st century warfare, said Frans Jurgens, a spokesman for the contractor.
The upgraded A-10 will have computer screens instead of knobs and round dials and will be able to deliver GPS-guided bombs.
The upgrade program is small change compared with the billions being spent to develop the supersonic F-22A Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that will eventually replace the A-10 and F-16.
“Air Force inventory is old,” Henderson said. “It’s going to continue to get older because the replacements are expensive. It’s going to take time to acquire those capabilities and bring them into the service. In the meantime, we’ve got to make sure we can still provide the support to the public that we need to. The way to do that is to extend the service life of our airframes.”
The Air Force has been doing flight testing of the A-10C at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
“The first A-10C production aircraft is being rolled out by the Air Force at Hill Air Force Base in Odgen, Utah, in mid-August,” Jurgens said. The contractor will deliver hardware and software upgrade kits to be installed by the Air Force, he said.
During the next two years, the Pope group will be juggling deployments to Afghanistan, the four-month aircraft upgrades and a move to Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.
“In addition to the airplanes being upgraded, the pilots will have to go through an upgrade course of about a month to do academics to learn about all the new systems and simulators and flights to learn how to be able to employ them appropriately,” Henderson said.
Henderson, who is 48, has been flying the A-10 since 1987. The aircraft got high marks for its performance in the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 and has been frequently deployed since then, especially to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years.
“The A-10 is always the first fighter aircraft to go on the chopping block because it’s not supermodern,” Henderson said. “It’s not superfast. It’s not stealthy. It’s not glamorous. It’s not any of the things we like to think of when we think fighter aircraft. It’s ugly, and it’s slow, and it’s a little bit old and archaic in its systems. However, every time the A-10 is called into duty, it proved its capabilities and it proves why the A-10 needs to stay in the inventory.”
Military editor Henry Cuningham can be reached at
cuninghamh@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3585.
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