Two U.S. Air Force A-10 Bases Transitioning To F-35s, F-16s

Brian Everstine June 27, 2023

An A-10 from the 124th Fighter Wing at Gowen Field, Idaho.

Credit: U.S. National Guard photo

More U.S. Air Force installations are getting new aircraft as Congress appears poised to allow the service to continue retiring the aging A-10 fleet.

The service announced June 26 that the active duty wing at Moody AFB, Georgia, would begin to receive Lockheed Martin F-35As in 2029 as its A-10s would be retired from 2024-2028. The base will receive two squadrons of the new aircraft.

Gowen Field Air National Guard Base, Idaho, would transition to Lockheed Martin F-16s from A-10s. Its Warthogs would begin to be retired in fall 2026, with F-16s slated to arrive in spring 2027.

The service’s fiscal 2024 budget request outlines a plan to retire 42 A-10s in fiscal 2024, with the rest of the 260-aircraft fleet to be cut over the next five years. Lawmakers appear to be supporting the plan so far, with both the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee approving the retirements in versions of the fiscal 2024 defense policy bill approved this month.

Brian Everstine

Brian Everstine is the Pentagon Editor for Aviation Week, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining Aviation Week in August 2021, he covered the Pentagon for Air Force Magazine. Brian began covering defense aviation in 2011 as a reporter for Military Times.

Comments

1 Comment
Kurt
Wed, 06/28/2023 - 12:35
My gosh, what a long career for the A-10. I hope they reserve some demilitarized versions for display in museums and gate guardians. Would be sad to chop all of them up and not have representatives for display purposes. I saw an A-10 at an airshow display many, many years ago. Yeah it had no armaments but that pilot slung that thing around going so low and slow. Was soooo cool to see the display. The engines seemed so quiet even when they were at full power at times. It's been said the A-10 is the closest modern thing to a WWII fighter bomber and that's the allure to those who fly it. Yes it can't be used in a "hyper-technical" engagement/war but in Iraq, it really shined to nail Iraqi tanks. Note: I was never in the military. All I know is what I read. Kurt

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