Top weapon against ISIS, the A-10, will stay until 2022

The A-10 aircraft that has been pummeling ISIS militants from the air, including those jets stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, will remain on duty until 2022.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the new retirement date for the planes, known as “Warthogs,” at a press conference on Tuesday. The decision was a rebuke to the Air Force brass, who have been trying to shelve the A-10 for three years.

"We’re … investing to maintain more of our 4th-generation fighter and attack jets than we previously planned — including the A-10, which has been devastating ISIL from the air. The budget defers the A-10’s final retirement until 2022," Carter said, "replacing it with F-35s on a squadron-by-squadron basis so we’ll always have enough aircraft for today’s conflicts."

The A-10 squadron and support crew from Selfridge, Michigan’s largest military installation, returned in the fall from a 6-month Middle East mission fighting ISIS. 
In the first wave of U.S. airstrikes after the deadly Paris attacks by ISIS in November, A-10s and AC-130 gunships destroyed a convoy of more than 100 ISIS oil tanker trucks in eastern Syria, part of a stepped-up effort to cut off a main source of terror funding.

Air Force officials have repeatedly said retirement of the A-10 fleet would free up funds for newer planes, like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, an ultra-expensive warplane intended to replace the A-10 and F-16 fighter.
But after trying to idle the battle-tested Warthog for the past three years, Air Force officials conceded that the plane is key to the war on ISIS.

One member of Congress, Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), a former A-10 pilot, is already eyeing another extension of the A-10 retirement date.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, McSally said the A-10 has been instrumental in the battle against Islamic State militants, in Europe where it was deployed to reassure and train U.S. allies amid increased Russian aggression, and in South Korea against North Korean belligerence.

But she noted that even 2022 represents an early retirement for the A-10, after the Pentagon spent about $1 billion on upgraded electronics and stronger wings to keep the Warthog flying until 2028.

"No other plane can perform the tasks for which the A-10 is uniquely suited and no other weapon system we have has the same ability to protect troops’ lives on the ground," McSally said in a statement. "I’ll continue to lead the fight to ensure we keep the A-10 until a suitable alternative yet to be identified is developed, tested, and proven to do the mission.”