Washington [US], June 29: The US Air Force is about to complete its plan to retire a total of 340 A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, significantly accelerating the previous plan's deadline of the end of this decade.
Defense News reported on June 29 that the US Air Force wants to retire 162 A-10 Thunderbolt II (also known as Warthog) attack aircraft in fiscal year 2026, the final stage in retiring a total of 340 aircraft.
In addition, the Pentagon also plans to cancel the E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft program because the program has been canceled many times and has increased in cost.
The A-10 retirement plan comes as the Pentagon releases its fiscal 2026 budget, which includes a $211 billion discretionary budget for the Department of the Air Force. That includes $184.9 billion for the Air Force itself and $26.1 billion for the Space Force.
The Pentagon also wants to add $38.6 billion in "mandatory" spending to the budget reconciliation bill, including $24.7 billion for the Air Force and $13.8 billion for the Space Force. If passed, the department's total budget would be $249.5 billion, a 17.2 percent increase over its approved spending in 2025.
The plan to completely end the A-10 program would be a significant acceleration from the Air Force's previous roadmap, which had expected to retire all A-10 attack aircraft by the end of the decade.
In addition to the A-10 aircraft, the US Air Force also plans to retire 62 F-16C/Ds, 21 F-15Es, 13 F-15C/Ds, 14 C-130H Hercules transport aircraft and 3 EC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft.
The force's decommissioning list also includes 14 KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft, 11 HH-60G combat rescue helicopters, 35 T-1 Texan training aircraft, 4 UH-1N helicopters and 1 B-1 Lancer bomber.
However, the proposed retirement list does not include the F-22A Raptor Block 20 aircraft, about 32 of which the Air Force has repeatedly sought to retire in recent years over concerns that they are no longer combat-capable. Congress has repeatedly blocked those efforts.
Regarding the E-7 early warning aircraft program, a US Air Force official said the cost of the program had increased from $588 million to $724 million, contributing to the decision to cancel it.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
