The Air Force has awarded Boeing a contract valued at up to $2 billion to engineer and manufacture 242 wing sets for its fleet of A-10 attack aircraft. Boeing is to deliver the wing sets in easy-installation kits. The Air Force, which in late 2005 recognized it had a problem with cracks in its “thin-skinned” Warthogs, has been proceeding with a precision engagement upgrade, giving the 20-year-old aircraft a much needed avionics overhaul.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…

