US Air Force To Keep A-10 Attack Planes In Service Following Three Retirement Attempts

US Air Force has proposed to keep all 283 A-10 attack planes, which were once almost at the edge of retirement, in the 2018 Pentagon budget plan sent to Congress this week.

The Air Force have reversed the Obama administration's view of the plane as an unaffordable extra during a time of tight budgets, Military.com reported Sunday.

Three years ago, the Pentagon proposed scrapping the fleet for what it estimated would be $3.5 billion in savings over five years. However, Congress refused. The following year, the military tried again but said the retirement would not be final until 2019 but was denied by congress again.

Last year, officials  a bit further, indicating retirement was still the best option but that it could be put off until 2022. Now the retirement push is ended, and the Warthog's future seems secure.

The A-10 entered service in 1976. It is a single-seat, twin jet engine attack aircraft designed to primarily support ground-based assault operations. With its front-mounted, seven-barrel, nine-foot gatling gun firing 3,900 rounds a minute; its Maverick or Sidewinder wing-mounted missiles; and its heavily over-engineered titanium armor plating, the aircraft became popular.