Arizona lawmaker vows to defend Air Force’s ‘Warthog’

Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) vowed to keeping funding for a warplane the Pentagon has wanted to retire.

The Defense bill signed into law by President Obama on Thursday includes funding for the A-10 “Warthog” fleet, which the Air Force had wanted to retire. 

{mosads}Barber declared victory in a statement released on Friday, and said he would push back against efforts going forward to retire the plane.

“This is an important step to protect the A-10 and keep it flying in Tucson’s skies,” he said in the statement. “With the president’s signature on this important legislation, we know that the A-10 will continue its missions without the threat of being retired in 2014.

“There is more work to do. I will continue the fight to protect the A-10 with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle,” he concluded. 

Barber said he introduced a bill last month that would prohibit the Department of Defense from spending any money to “retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage any A-10 aircraft.”

But the NDAA didn’t go that far; the bill simply prohibited retirement of the aircraft through December 2014.