Daryl Hunt
Your Worst Nightmare
- Banned
- #1
And it begins.
Air Force could ground more than 100 A-10s as early as FY18 as life of wings runs out
Air Force could ground more than 100 A-10s as early as FY18 as life of wings runs out
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Air Force may be forced to ground a portion of its A-10 Warthog squadrons as early as fiscal year 2018, as their wings age out before replacements can be provided, the head of Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.
Although the service plans to keep the majority of its A-10 fleet into the forseeable future, leaders have acknowledged that it will be forced to retire three Warthog squadrons unless it is given money for new wings. Currently, 109 out of 281 A-10s need their wings replaced to extend their lives to 16,000 flight hours.
But even if Congress funds the additional wingsets, the Air Force will not be able to hold a competition, award a contract and modify its A-10s with new wings before the service life of at least some of the the old wings runs out, said Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of Air Force Materiel Command.
“We’re trying to work through to see if we can get to the point where we will not have to ground airplanes waiting to get wings, but as it stands right now, we will have to ground airplanes while we work through getting additional wings,” she said during an exclusive interview with Defense News at the Air Force Association’s annual conference.
As a stopgap measure, AFMC is considering harvesting wings from A-10s mothballed in the boneyards of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, refurbishing them and fitting them on Warthogs as their wings age out. But that “gives us a few more hours, not as many as new wings do,” Pawlikowski said, acknowledging that the situation was far from optimal.
Pawlikowski stated that, to her memory, some A-10s could stop flying as early as 2019. However, Air Material Command later clarified that “our current grounding projections are a few aircraft as soon as FY18 with approximately 70 running out of service life over the next several years.”
Even some of the A-10s slated to get new wings could get grounded, as Boeing struggles to deliver wingsets on time due to an issue with a part needing to be reworked, Pawlikowski said.
Air Force could ground more than 100 A-10s as early as FY18 as life of wings runs out
Air Force could ground more than 100 A-10s as early as FY18 as life of wings runs out
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Air Force may be forced to ground a portion of its A-10 Warthog squadrons as early as fiscal year 2018, as their wings age out before replacements can be provided, the head of Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.
Although the service plans to keep the majority of its A-10 fleet into the forseeable future, leaders have acknowledged that it will be forced to retire three Warthog squadrons unless it is given money for new wings. Currently, 109 out of 281 A-10s need their wings replaced to extend their lives to 16,000 flight hours.
But even if Congress funds the additional wingsets, the Air Force will not be able to hold a competition, award a contract and modify its A-10s with new wings before the service life of at least some of the the old wings runs out, said Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of Air Force Materiel Command.
“We’re trying to work through to see if we can get to the point where we will not have to ground airplanes waiting to get wings, but as it stands right now, we will have to ground airplanes while we work through getting additional wings,” she said during an exclusive interview with Defense News at the Air Force Association’s annual conference.
As a stopgap measure, AFMC is considering harvesting wings from A-10s mothballed in the boneyards of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, refurbishing them and fitting them on Warthogs as their wings age out. But that “gives us a few more hours, not as many as new wings do,” Pawlikowski said, acknowledging that the situation was far from optimal.
Pawlikowski stated that, to her memory, some A-10s could stop flying as early as 2019. However, Air Material Command later clarified that “our current grounding projections are a few aircraft as soon as FY18 with approximately 70 running out of service life over the next several years.”
Even some of the A-10s slated to get new wings could get grounded, as Boeing struggles to deliver wingsets on time due to an issue with a part needing to be reworked, Pawlikowski said.
