UPDATE : Vote on saving (Selfridge) A-10s delayed in House; Peters, Stabenow encourage continued funding

One day after it was announced that 350 airmen and a dozen A-10 aircraft from Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township were deployed in the Middle East to battle ISIS, a House Armed Services Committee today agreed to delay a vote on continued funding for the U.S. fleet of 300 A-10 attack jets.

The future of the A-10 aircraft could be directly linked to the future of Selfridge, the last remaining major military installation in Michigan. Without the A-10s, the only aircraft at the sprawling, 3,600-acre base would be eight KC-135 mid-air tanker refueling planes.

Selfridge, located on Lake St. Clair, is home to about 20 A-10s, affectionately labeled by Army ground troops as the “Warthogs.” The installation employs more than 4,000 full-time civilian and military personnel. The base is credited with pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy annually.

Meanwhile, Michigan Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both Democrats, urged Congress to reject the Air Force plan to retire its A-10 fleet to save roughly $4 billion. Many lawmakers on the Republican side of the aisle have fiercely argued that the Air Force has no suitable replacement for the A-10s’ ability to fly low and slow over the battlefield, eliminating enemy ground troops and armored vehicles.

“Given the United States’ current military engagements in the Middle East fighting against (ISIS) and protecting NATO countries in Eastern Europe, the aircraft program must be continued until a suitable alternative is in place,” Peters and Stabenow said in a letter to Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). 

Recent data has indicated that the replacements, the B-1 bomber and F-35 fighter, cannot match some of the old-school capabilities of the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air Forces is deferring a decision on the future of the A-10 attackjet fleet rather than making any immediate moves.

The subcommittee’s plans for its portion of the 2016 defense policy bill, unveiled this morning, makes no mention of the "Warthog,” which means the plane’s fate will likely be decided by the full Armed Services committee sometime next week, according to The Hill.

The Selfridge deployment that took place last week to Southwest Asia entails 12 A-10s and 350 airmen from four Air National Guard squadron’s within the 127^th Wing, according to Brig. Gen. John Slocum, base commander.

Slocum said the current deployment to the Middle East is scheduled to last about six months. This mission is the longest, large-scale deployment of Selfridge airmen since the base’s A-10s and support units deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in late 2011-early 2012.

Additional deployments of Selfridge airmen and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft are planned for later this year. Overall, more than 500 Selfridge Airmen are expected to deploy to overseas operations in 2015 -- about double the number of each of the past two years.

While lawmakers on Capitol Hill have blocked the elimination of the A-10s for three years, with GOP Rep. Candice Miller of Harrison Township as a leading advocate for the planes, last year Congress allowed the Air Force to idle up to 36 of the attack jets by moving them into “inventory status,” pending a review by the Pentagon and the Defense secretary.

The bill also permitted the Air Force to shift maintenance personnel from the A-10 program to the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
The plan moved forward last month, shifting 18 A-10s into backup status, with another 18 slated for “semi-retirement” next year.

“We respect the difficult budgetary decisions our Armed Forces have to face while protecting our troops and achieving operational successes,” Stabenow and Peters wrote.

“But … retiring the A-10 before suitable alternatives, capable of the same level of operational engagement, are ready is unwise. Therefore, we request you fully authorize the funding required for the A-10, and take no additional action to divest or move additional planes to back up status in 2016.”

Last month, a group of Republican senators urged chairmen of two key committees to ensure the Air Force doesn't take any steps to retire the A-10 "Warthog" attack jet, The Hill reported.

"Unfortunately, the Air Force is again pursuing its premature, misguided, and dangerous divestment of the A-10," the senators warned.