XBradTC

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XBradTC

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No, the Army doesn’t want the A-10.

We argued that some time ago the Army simply wasn’t interested in taking over the A-10 should the Air Force attempt to divest itself of the plane. And before you say “well, fine, give ‘em to the Army” or Marines, or what have you, understand, neither service wants the A-10 so badly they they are…

We argued that some time ago the Army simply wasn’t interested in taking over the A-10 should the Air Force attempt to divest itself of the plane.

And before you say “well, fine, give ‘em to the Army” or Marines, or what have you, understand, neither service wants the A-10 so badly they they are willing to pick up those associated costs, nor incur the major doctrinal upheaval integration of the A-1o would entail. That doesn’t even get into where the Army or Marines would find the manpower to operate the Warthog. It simply will not happen.

And now, Army Secretary McHugh has made that official.

The U.S. Army has no interest in taking over the Air Force’s fleet of A-10 attack planes, even if it would save the venerable Cold War-era aircraft from the bone yard.

The service’s top civilian, Army Secretary John McHugh, rejected the idea of accepting hand-me-down A-10 Warthogs from the Air Force.

“No chance,” he said during a breakfast meeting with reporters on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. “That’s not even been a topic of casual conversation.”

“With our own aircraft fleet we’re taking some pretty dramatic steps to reconfigure and become more affordable, and the A-10 mission is not something we considered. That’s an Air Force mission as it should be and I’m sure the Air Force feels the same way,” McHugh said.

The Marines? They’ve leveraged the future of not just Marine Aviation, but the entire Marine Corps on the F-35B. They want nothing to do with the A-10.

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  1. Paul H. Lemmen

    Reblogged this on A Conservative Christian Man.

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  2. Quartermaster

    Given the ax that’s being taken to teh Army, no they don’t want it, even if they do. They can’t afford it and maintain the Air Force they have. Rotary Wing Aviation is expensive and they’re trying to hold on to what they can of that.

    As far as the CAS mission is concerned, USAF doesn’t want it. Taking TacAir from Army in 1947 was the biggest mistake they allowed the Bomber Generals to make. OTOH, the CAS mission is becoming more and more problematic. In the long run, even PGMs aren’t going to save it. CAS will still exist in conflicts that allow permissive air environments, and that will exist as long as our opponents don’t get effective ManPads or even larger AD missile systems.

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  3. Quartermaster

    By the by, USMC could use A-10, but their AC must be able to fly off carriers as well. A-10 could only be used as a land based AC. From what I know of the design, a “clean sheet” design would be cheaper.

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  4. M1A1TrkTrror

    McHugh? Don’t believe a word out of his Zoroastrian mouth…

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