Photo By Staff Sgt. Nicholas Ross | An A-10C Thunderbolt II, aircraft taxis towards the 309 Aircraft Maintenance and...... read more read more
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DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. - After nearly 50 years at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the 355th Wing has begun divesting its fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft.
A-10C aircraft 82-648 was retired from service at Davis-Monthan and transited from the 354th Fighter Squadron to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group for final maintenance procedures and display preparation for the Davis-Monthan where hundreds of retired Aircraft are stored.
“The A-10 has been the symbol of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for many years, and it will continue to be a symbol for the Airmen of DM, a symbol of their commitment, excellence and service,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Scott Mills, 355th Wing commander and A-10 pilot. “For now, we’re divesting a single squadron during the summer-fall timeframe of 2024.”
The U.S. Air Force is planning to divest the entire fleet of A-10 aircraft within the next 3-5 years. Pilots and maintainers at Davis-Monthan will move onto the F-35 aircraft due to the divestment.
“There will always be a job for maintainers; it may not be on the A-10, but the Air Force needs maintainers to sustain airpower,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Clarence McRae, 355th Maintenance Group commander, “Perhaps the biggest draw of future maintainers will be in the F-35 community. Airplanes are still going to break, and we are still going to fix them.”
Originally designed for Close Air Support, or CAS, by Fairchild Republic, an Aircraft and Aerospace manufacturing company, the first A-10 model had the capability to carry bombs and rockets on 11 pylons and featured a 30mm GAU-8/A rotary cannon protruding from the nose of the aircraft.
“The plane is unique in its diverse ability to support our ground team not only with precision munitions from a distance, like we’re doing as we speak in the Middle East, but also with scalpel-like accuracy using the GAU-8 gun under the most difficult environments imaginable,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Razvan Radoescu, 355th Operations Group commander. “The plane, coupled with our high-level training standards, are the reasons so many of our joint and coalition forces returned home to fight another day – because they had A-10s overhead covering their six, or employing weapons to save their lives when nobody else could.”
The first model of the aircraft to arrive at Davis-Monthan was an A-10A on March 2, 1976. This model was assigned to the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing that arrived here in 1971 and replaced the Vought A-7D Corsair flown by the 355th TFW. The 355th TFW was later reclassified as the 355th Tactical Fighter Training Wing, prompting the 354th, 357th, and 358th Fighter squadrons to train U.S. Air Force Pilots on the A-10A aircraft.
“While the aircraft’s maneuverability and munitions, including the mighty GAU-8, make it overwhelmingly effective on the battlefield, it’s the pilot that makes it special,” Mills said. “The pilot has been trained to care about and understand the young Army infantryman on the ground; they are the mission.”
Coinciding with the divestment, Davis-Monthan plans to expand its Rescue Footprint, which may lead to additional utility of the HC-130 aircraft and the HH-60W helicopter. Airframes expected to arrive from the Air Force Special Operations Command include the MC-130 and OA-1K.
“From an Ops personal standpoint, this divestment arguably allows a more expeditious stand-up of the F-35, even as that program continues to struggle with a variety of delays,” said Radoescu.
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.08.2024 16:02 |
| Story ID: | 463511 |
| Location: | DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 288 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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