Air Force Plans Special Operations Mission for Arizona Base Set to Lose Aging Attack Planes
The Air Force has been trying for years to phase out A-10 Warthog attack jets, including those at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. Photo: Ash Ponders for The Wall Street Journal By Daniel Nasaw May 2, 2023 9:00 am ET WASHINGTON—The Air Force plans to establish a new special-operations wing at an Arizona base threatened by the looming retirement of its aging A-10 attack jets, a shift that illustrates the pressure Congress exerts on the Pentagon to maintain local jobs and federal funding as the U.S. modernizes its military. The A-10 Warthogs, lauded for their role saving ground troops in firefights over 20 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, are ill-suited for wars of the future, defense officials say. But for a decade, Congress has limited the Air Force’s authority to retire
The Air Force has been trying for years to phase out A-10 Warthog attack jets, including those at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
Photo: Ash Ponders for The Wall Street Journal
By
WASHINGTON—The Air Force plans to establish a new special-operations wing at an Arizona base threatened by the looming retirement of its aging A-10 attack jets, a shift that illustrates the pressure Congress exerts on the Pentagon to maintain local jobs and federal funding as the U.S. modernizes its military.
The A-10 Warthogs, lauded for their role saving ground troops in firefights over 20 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, are ill-suited for wars of the future, defense officials say. But for a decade, Congress has limited the Air Force’s authority to retire the Warthogs, out of deference to representatives and senators whose constituencies stood to lose if the planes were scrapped.
The service’s new five-year plan, which isn’t complete and could still change, is expected roughly to maintain the current head count at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, in Tucson, Ariz., which employs thousands of airmen and civilians and contributes nearly $3 billion annually to the local economy.
“The Air Force’s plan to bring new special operations flying missions to Davis-Monthan would keep the base at the center of our national defense for years to come,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, the Arizona Democrat who is chairman of the Armed Services subcommittee that handles Air Force policy.
The new wing at Davis-Monthan would include MC-130 special-operations planes and light attack aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter. It also would transfer HH-60 rescue helicopters from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and bring in new, advanced EC-37 electronic warfare planes.
“We are still working through the details,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in a statement.
In recent weeks, the Air Force has briefed local community leaders and the Arizona congressional delegation on the plan and has begun preliminary assessments of its infrastructure, construction and environmental needs.
A-10 Warthogs won wide praise for their role saving ground troops in fights in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photo: Ash Ponders for The Wall Street Journal
“It’s very real and things are falling into place,” said Linda Morales, president of DM50, a local booster group that supports Davis-Monthan. “Really really great news for Tucson. It’s an enduring mission—30 years into the future we could have this here.”
The proposal amounts to a sweetened bid for Congress’s support for the Air Force’s effort to retire the A-10s. If Congress approves the plan, Arizona’s congressional delegation will have won a better outcome for its constituents two years after rejecting an earlier plan, while the Air Force will have successfully navigated opposition to winding down the mainstay mission at a crucial local base.
In 2021, Air Force leaders proposed bringing rescue helicopters and A-10 training units to Davis-Monthan from Nellis, while promising to send the Nevada base advanced jet fighters. But Arizona’s congressional delegation was concerned, among other factors, that the Air Force could later move the promised personnel and aircraft elsewhere if needed. The proffer of A-10 training units was of questionable value, considering the Air Force had sought to retire the plane.
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In opposing the plan to retire the A-10, the attack plane’s many supporters also noted its popularity among ground troops, its excellence in its primary mission of supporting such troops and the costs Congress had already sunk into updating it.
In its annual defense policy bill that year, Congress barred the Air Force from retiring the A-10s, forcing the Air Force to table the plan.
Write to Daniel Nasaw at [email protected]
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