The A-10 fleet currently averages 8,400 flight hours, but Col. James Ratti, A-10 system program manager at the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, told reporters Wednesday that the precise engagement upgraded C model Warthog should retire with 16,000 flight hours. It will be in the service’s inventory until at least 2028 and will begin to “ramp down” with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s presence. At this point, Ratti said, the A-10 is about halfway through its service life. The PE program “ushers in a whole second lifetime for the A-10 in terms of capability and relevancy on today’s battlefield,” he added.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.