By Chad Selweski
The Macomb Daily
The fate of the A-10 aircraft at Selfridge base in Harrison Township remains murky after a tragic “friendly fire” incident in the Middle East seemingly boosted the value of the low-flying jets while the 2015 Defense Department bill moving through Congress calls for mothballing 36 of the nation’s A-10 Thunderbolts.
The Selfridge Air Nation Guard Base, the largest military installation in the state, covers 3,600 acres and generates $825 million in economic activity for the southeast Michigan region. If Selfridge’s 24 A-10 jets were removed, the bases viability could become in question.
In Washington, the compromise House-Senate defense authorization bill that emerged Tuesday night raised the hackles of Rep. Candice Miller, a leading advocate on Capitol Hill of the close air support aircraft, who said the Air Force plan for putting three dozen A-10s on “backup status” across the nation represents a slippery slope.
While the future of the A-10s remains a relatively minor issue in a $585 billion defense bill that calls for numerous Pentagon cuts, the legislation passed on Thursday by a bipartisan margin of 300-119 in the ongoing lame duck session.
“When you talk about backup status, that means they’re going to be mothballed. It’s a code phrase for divestiture of the A-10s,” said Miller, a Harrison Township Republican. “This puts us in a weaker position.”
The Miller Amendment approved by the House last Spring called for no changes in the active status of 18 A-10s stationed at Selfridge -- reduced from 24 in recent years – and for the nearly 300 A-10s across the nation, either as Air Force aircraft or planes assigned to the Air National Guard. The Air Force says the plan could save $3.7 billion.
But the consensus version of the bill reached by House and Senate negotiators in recent days, including outgoing Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, provides a small nod to the Air Force’s plans to replace the 1970s-era A-10 with more modern aircraft.
Yet, a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in June, in which a high-altitude B-1B bomber -- a planned replacement for the A-10 -- dropped a 500-pound bomb onto a helicopter landing zone and accidentally killed five U.S. soldiers, shifted the debate.
That tragic fratricide incident led to a sternly worded letter to outgoing Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel from an Air Force association representing battlefield air-strike target spotters. They said the manner of ongoing air strikes in Afghanistan and against ISIS in Iraq and Syria had “shaken the confidence” of the 1,300-member Tactical Air Control Party Association, which voted unanimously last month against a rapid phaseout of the A-10.
“…When under enemy fire and about to be overrun, (target spotters) look over their shoulders and pray an A-10 is there — knowing that nothing reassures and protects friendly forces and scatters and destroys enemy forces like an A-10,” wrote Charlie Keebaugh, president of the TACP.
“If the Air Force does not reverse its decision to prematurely divest the A-10, Americans will die in future conflicts due to inadequate close air support. This is a completely predictable disaster in the making …”
The A-10 affectionately known as the “Warthog,” is a “tank buster” aircraft, designed to fly low and slow over an open battlefield. For decades the Air Force has attempted to scrap the A-10 while the Army brass insist that the plane is unsurpassed at protecting troops on the ground.
The 107th Fighter Squadron at Selfridge consists of 455 Guardsmen who are A-10 pilots or engage in maintenance and operations. The unit is also comprised of 180 full time employees -- 21 serve on active-duty status and the remainder are uniformed civilian technicians.
When the military brass in 2012 attempted to put the 107th Fighter Squadron and all A-10s on the chopping block, the proposal united Macomb County’s elected officials and business community to oppose the plan. The Selfridge Base Community Council coordinated a lobbying campaign and Gov. Rick Snyder, Oakland County Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson and then-Mayor Dave Bing of Detroit joined the cause.
Two years later, Congresswoman Miller concedes that the high-tech, long awaited – and very expensive -- F-35 fighter plan would be a good replacement for the aging A-10. But she said the Air Force leave no leeway for an extended transition that could last 20 years. Miller believes entrenched Pentagon officials and defense contractors have created an adversarial atmosphere.
“I think people are sort of pitting the A-10 vs. the F-35. That’s a red herring. It doesn’t have to be either/or,” Miller said. “The … bottom line is that if the Pentagon eliminates all the A-10s, Selfridge is not going to get F-35 replacements sometime next year, or any time soon.”
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