A bipartisan group of lawmakers last week urged Defense
Department leaders to hold off on any plans to cut the A-10 and provide more
scrutiny to the Air Force's budget plans.
The letter, signed by 13 senators and 20 representatives, calls on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to "actively scrutinize" the Air Force's fiscal 2015 budget proposals, and conduct a study on close-air support as directed by the Senate Armed Services Committee in its report on the fiscal 2014 authorization bill.
A group of lawmakers urged Defense Department leaders to hold off on any plans to cut the A-10 and provide more scrutiny to the Air Force's budget plans. (Airman 1st Class Benjamin Wiseman / Air Force)
"In terms of maintaining the health of the A-10 fleet with
pilot training, sufficient flight hours, utilization of active component
squadrons, software upgrades, and modernization funding, it is essential that
the Air Force not take any additional steps toward divestment," the Nov. 14
letter states. "It is also important that the Air Force reverse any actions
taken in recent months that could make an A-10 divestment a foregone conclusion
before Congress can exercise its constitutional oversight role."
Earlier this year, Air Force leaders said they were
considering cutting entire fleets of "single-mission aircraft," including the
A-10 ground attack jet and the KC-10 tanker plane.
In the letter, the lawmakers wrote that the A-10 is the service's most capable aircraft at providing close-air support. Cutting the airframe would create a close-air support "gap that would reduce Air Force combat power and unnecessarily endanger our service members in future conflicts." -Staff report, FMI: AirForceTimes