USAF Pilots: Retiring the A-10 Will Put Troops in Danger

For the third year in a row, the Air Force has proposed retiring some or all of the A-10s, ostensibly to save money in order to pay for “modernization.”
After failing to convince Congress to implement their plan last year — except for a last minute partial capitulation by retiring Senate and House Armed Services Committee chairmen Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. Buck McKeon — and encountering uncompromising pushback this year, Air Force headquarters has renewed its campaign with more dirty tricks.
First, Air Force headquarters tried to fight back against congressional skepticism by releasing cherry-picked data purporting to show that the A-10 kills more friendlies and civilians than any other U.S. Air Force plane, even though it actually has one of the lowest fratricide and civilian casualty rates.
With those cooked statistics debunked and rejected by Senate Armed Services Chairman Sen. John McCain, Air Force headquarters hastily assembled a joint CAS “summit” to try to justify dumping the A-10.
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