The Air Force will keep all its A-10 Warthogs and almost completely rebuild them, according to Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff. At the July 7 inauguration ceremonies for the F-35 strike fighter, Moseley told Air Force Magazine that the 2008 program objective memoranda—the five-year spending plan—calls for thoroughly rewinging the A-10 fleet and funds the entire suite of precision engagement and structural modifications, known as the “Hog Up” program. Moseley noted that while the service originally had planned to take 95 A-10s out of service and use the maintenance savings to pay for the mods, the Air Force has decided not to reduce the fleet after all.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…