The US Air Force (USAF) hopes to dramatically accelerate retirements of its Fairchild Republic A-10 attack fighters, with fiscal year 2026 budget plans calling for the entire fleet to be phased out by 2027.
Those plans were detailed by senior Pentagon officials, who provided FlightGlobal an overview of the president’s fiscal year 2026 defence budget request on 26 June. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
The spending package includes a request for $57 million that would be used to retire all of the remaining 162 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, which are more commonly known by the moniker Warthog.
The USAF has sought to retire the Cold War-era attack jets for more than a decade, describing them as vulnerable to modern air defences. A devoted following among ground combat troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, aided by supporters in Congress, prevented the divestments.
That finally changed in 2022, when lawmakers approved some A-10 retirements as part of the FY2023 US defence budget. The air force began retiring Warthogs in 2023, and has been gradually reducing its fleet since.
Defence officials say they had previously planned to phase out the remaining A-10s by calendar year 2029, but now want to move that milestone forward.
The Trump Administration has moved aggressively to eliminate military platforms it deems obsolete or unsuited for its vision of modern combat against an advanced industrial adversary.
This includes plans to retire older Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopters and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C uncrewed air vehicles from the US Army.
New development efforts seen as challenged or non-essential are also being axed, with funding going to priority projects instead.
A new sixth-generation fighter for the US Navy now appears to be in a holding pattern, while the Pentagon has terminated development of a new turboshaft engine for the Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter and is seeking to kill procurement of the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail for the USAF.
Congress will have to approve any spending plans, including changes to procurement and inventory.
Lawmakers often overrule the Pentagon on equipment decisions, as has so often been the case with previous efforts to retire the A-10.
