Hagel: A-10 phase-out to ‘make room’ for new fighters

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday the Pentagon needs to follow through with plans to phase out the A-10 Thunderbolt attack jet to “make room” for the F-35 stealth fighter.

“Congress had a lot of questions about it. It’ll be brought back up, I’m sure, in later hearings this year. But it’s in the process. It’s in the plans to phase our A-10s out,” he said during a visit to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

{mosads}The Defense Department is poised to unveil its 2016 budget on Feb. 2 and will likely propose retiring the A-10, as in previous years.

Congress has rejected those plans, but last year lawmakers allowed for reduced flying hours and for some of the plane’s maintainers to shift to the F-35.

Hagel’s comments portend a fight between the Pentagon and Congress, with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) vowing to keep the A-10 around for years.

Hagel called the A-10 a “tremendous and effective platform for our country and for our needs.”

However, he added, “like all effective platforms, we need to upgrade and modernize,” he said.

“So, what we’ll need to do is we’ll need to phase out the A-10 as we make room for the F-35, which has more precision and more versatility,” he said.

The Defense Department has been trying to retire the Thunderbolt for the past several years, in order to save about $4 billion over five years, and allocate resources to the F-35 fighter jet, which is already the most expensive weapons system in history at nearly $400 billion.

The A-10 flew throughout the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and is currently flying in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — making the Pentagon’s argument that it is no longer needed more difficult.

Military leaders have said U.S. advisers could accompany Iraqi forces into battle, which might require close air support.

Troops love the A-10, also known as the “Warthog,” because its pilots can fly low and slow, and lock eyes on their targets, instead of relying on sensors.

Defense officials acknowledge that the A-10 provides superior close air support, but say that other planes can do the mission as well.

“The B-2 can do a lot of the same things that the A-10 can do, especially precision-wise,” Hagel said.

The F-35 is seen as crucial to take on potential adversaries such as China.

“We need to keep upgrading capacity, capabilities, and assure that our platforms stay ahead of our adversaries. And we’ll eventually phase the A-10s out,” Hagel said.

Hagel called the A-10 a “tremendous platform for 40 years.”

“But the modernization continues to push us out where we need more capability. We need it faster. We need all the other dimensions that every generation, whether it’s A-10, B-52, B-1, B-2 didn’t have. We continually get better,” he said.