The A-10 fighter jet has flown 562 missions in Iraq and Syria since it joined the United States’ fight against the Islamic State in November, according to the Air Force.
The aircraft’s contribution to the fight against the extremist group runs counter to arguments last year that the older attack aircraft would not be sent into Syria, because it lacked the survivability or speed to operate in Syria’s contested environment. It also challenges the Defense Department’s plans to retire the aircraft.
“I could not send an A-10 into Syria right now. [It would] never come back,” former Air Combat Command commander Gen. Mike Hostage told an Air Force Association breakfast in July.
But last week, at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., Air Combat Command tweeted that the A-10 “was doing great in Syria, but there’s a multitude of aircraft supporting.”
To A-10 advocates, the Air Force’s emphasis that the A-10’s Syrian flights were conducted “with a multitude of aircraft supporting” showed a continued effort by the service to diminish its role.
“It drives me nuts,” said retired Lt. Col. Tom Norris, noting that no matter what aircraft is attacking, support is always there. Norris is the former commander of the 131st Fighter Squadron, an Air National Guard A-10 unit based in Massachusetts.
“The Air Force does not have a single platform that does not benefit from an [electronic warfare] package,” said Norris, who flew the A-10 in contested Iraqi airspace in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. “You tie assets and airframes together. When they fly even the F-117 or F-22, they tie assets together. The A-10 is no different.”
Current Air Combat Command commander Gen. Hawk Carlisle told reporters that the A-10 had been involved in a “few dozen” missions in Syria but that its use had been more limited because it is more vulnerable than other aircraft such as the F-16.
Based on data provided by the Air Force, the use of the A-10 represents about “13 percent of all comparable sorties flown by U.S. and partner nation fighters and bombers” from Nov. 26, when the A-10 joined the fight, and Feb. 6, said Air Force Central Command spokesman Col. Ed Sholtis.
The number of missions, or sorties, is not the same as the number of airstrikes. Of the 562 sorties flown by the A-10 in Iraq and Syria from Nov. 26 to Feb. 6, there were 139 that were airstrikes — that involved the release of at least one weapon or strafing run, the Air Force said. Those missions resulting in the release of 632 total munitions — with each strafing run counted as one drop, the Air Force said.
For comparison, U.S. and coalition aircraft have flown “an estimated 22,372 sorties in support of operations in Iraq and Syria,” since Operation Inherent Resolve began Aug. 8. A total 2,446 of those were airstrikes, based on the most recent data available, according to Air Force data.
Retired Tech. Sgt. Charlie Keebaugh, a former A-10 ground controller who served in Afghanistan in 2002-2003, said the continued push to discredit the A-10 is “purely budgetary and political as of this point – it’s certainly not on what effect it has on the enemy.”
The Air Force has been trying to retire the A-10, nicknamed the Warthog, saying it is too old and not versatile enough to keep flying under tight budget constraints. It is slow and ugly compared with the Air Force’s other fighter jets, especially the stealthy, supersonic F-35 that is scheduled to replace it. But it is also heavily armed and armored, making it a deadly weapon in close-in combat against enemy ground forces.
Keebaugh, who is president of the Tactical Air Control Party Association, which opposes retiring the A-10, said the group will return to the Pentagon with a host of A-10 medal recipients and special forces operators next week to discuss the need for the aircraft with both the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force.
