(Not) Unexpected: Air Force Extends Life of A-10 Yet Again

Want to know something ironic? 

Despite being beloved, the A-10 really is getting long in the tooth and should be replaced. Unfortunately, once it is inevitably retired, it will not be replaced with a better version of the A-10, but with aircraft much less suited to taking its place in ground support and hunter-killer missions. 

In consultation with @SecWar, we will EXTEND the A-10 “Warthog” platform to 2030. This preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production.

Thank you to @POTUS for your unwavering support of our warfighters and quick, decisive… pic.twitter.com/zn1l3OshdY

— Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (@SecAFOfficial) April 20, 2026

It’s hard to believe that the operational concept and design process began in the mid-60s, and that the first A-10s entered service in the late 70s, but there it is. Designed to defend against a Soviet invasion of Europe, it was never expected to have a long life on the battlefield. The goal was to blunt the Soviets’ invasion by chewing up tanks and armored personnel carriers, flying into the most dangerous airspace for as long and as often as possible before inevitably getting chewed up itself. 

It is big, ungainly, tough as nails, and relatively slow by jet standards, making it possible to use its gun in a way no fighter jet can do as well against ground targets. 

And it is the ground soldier’s best friend, and, as we saw in the successful effort to rescue the F-15 WSO, nearly ideal for protecting our guys in close combat. 

It really should be owned by the Army, but we don’t do things that way. The Air Force owns the fixed-wing attack craft, as was decided when the Army Air Corps split off from the Army and became the Air Force. And the Air Force likes fast and nimble, not slow and ungainly. Which is why it has tried to kill the A-10 for decades, arguing that fighter aircraft can do the job as well as the A-10. 

They can’t. They are too fast and arguably too fragile to do what the A-10 does. They are also more expensive to fly. 

But too fast is probably the most important problem.  Low and slow, plus long loiter times, allows for better target identification and aiming for the guns and better coverage of the battlefield. A fighter jet will get where it needs to go quicker, and can, in a pinch, serve as ground support, of course, and the Air Force has a point when it argues that its own budget would be better served by rolling in the air support role into an aircraft that can perform several other roles well. 

But…You can be certain that if President Trump orders kinetic strikes on Iran’s fleet of small attack boats, the A-10 will be an active participant, just as it was in the rescue of our WSO. You just can’t beat low and slow for identifying the craft and distinguishing them from fishing boats, and the long loiter time will maximize the coverage of the area, protecting ships being harassed. 

In an ideal world, a modernized A-10 replacement would be developed to replace the aging 1970s version we have today, or at the very least the current A-10 fleet would be handed over to the Army to supplement its attack helicopters, but that just isn’t going to happen. It’s not how bureaucracies and budgets work. 

So, once again, the A-10 is having its life extended by a few years. Even though the current versions with updated avionics are still quite dated, they serve their purpose relatively well, and nothing else can quite do what it can. 

Who wants to bet that when push comes to shove, the retirement date for the A-10 will be pushed out again…and again. 

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