Though the Air Force would like to phase out the A-10 close air support aircraft, it will continue buying new wings for the fleet until Congress permits otherwise, service Undersecretary Eric Fanning said Tuesday. USAF is prohibited by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 “from doing anything that leads toward the divestment of the A-10,” Fanning said, so the rewinging goes on. The service has quoted a savings number of $3.7 billion over five years if the A-10 is retired, and that includes “opportunity cost,” Fanning noted. A service spokeswoman said terminating the rewinging effort would save an additional $500 million. “If we did divest the A-10 fleet, obviously we would start with the ones that haven’t had new [wings] put on them,” Fanning said. If USAF doesn’t get to divest the A-10 and U-2 fleets, Fanning said the service can’t “cut into readiness far enough” to pay the bill, “so something in procurement would have to give.”
NATO Scrambles Fighter in Newest Response to Russian Drones
Sept. 16, 2025
NATO scrambled its first fighter Sept. 13 under its new plan to bolster its defenses against Russian air incursions that was put into place after an array of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week, the officials from the alliance’s military command said.
