Senators said a recent watchdog report showing that the Pentagon skewed statistics on the A-10 Thunderbolt’s performance in Afghanistan seemed to be deliberately cherry-picked to support the retirement of the aircraft, and they pledged to defend the program in this year’s budget request.
The Project on Government Oversight on Monday reported that based on its analysis, the Air Force skewed the numbers of civilian deaths caused by the various aircraft used in Afghanistan to make the A-10 look worse by limiting the data to 2010 and beyond – omitting a 2009 incident in which a B-1 dropped ordinance on a civilian population in Granai, killing almost 100 people.
“The Air Force is again making selective use of data to support its misguided, dangerous and premature divestment of the A-10 — a divestment that ignores the advice of … [those] who know close air support best,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who has become a vocal A-10 supporter in Congress and whose husband was an A-10 pilot.
In a response, the Air Force said the 2010-2014 timeframe was used because DOD started tracking civilian casualties in a consistent manner in 2010.
“Numbers require context. The fact is the incident free rate of the A-10, B-1, F-15E and F-16 are comparable,” said Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Karns. “Each platform is effective in its own right.”
Karns said the A-10 continues to be used and that 12 aircraft were sent this week to support Ukraine. The request to retire it is a reflection of DOD’s fiscal reality, he said.
“While the A-10 remains in the Air Force inventory, we will continue to employ it,” Karns said. “A-10s deployed this week to Germany to support Operation Atlantic Resolve. Approximately 300 Airmen and support equipment will deploy with the 12 A-10s.”
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said POGO’s report shows that the Air Force’s data on the A-10’s performance in Afghanistan “does not bear scrutiny” and is another attempt to discredit the aircraft so that the Air Force can move funding to the Joint Strike Fighter.
“The fact is they are talking about replacing a $15 million airplane with a $135 million airplane. It’s just foolishness,” McCain said.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he had not looked closely at the report but understood that the Pentagon is trying to find ways to afford the Joint Strike Fighter.
“They are building all of these F-35s,” Smith said.
“I don’t personally question that many times the A-10 has been effective — I personally question how we can continue to afford every single platform that we have and want to build. Choices have to be made in this tight budget environment.”
The data analyzed by POGO also showed that the A-10’s use in Afghanistan grew in recent years, tapering off last year as the number of troops in Afghanistan drew down at the end of 2014.
It was the most used aircraft in 2013. Of the 12,862 sorties recorded in Afghanistan that year, the A-10 flew 3,796 of them, followed by the F-16, which flew 2,856 missions, and the F-18, which flew 2,351, according to U.S. Air Force data.
In 2014, the A-10’s use dropped off, but it was still the second-most used platform, performing 2,115 of the 8,091 sorties reported in Afghanistan. The most-used aircraft last year was the F-16, recording 2,432 sorties.
