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Poslao: 19 Avg 2017 14:20
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offline
- ltcolonel
- Stručni saradnik foruma
- Nebojša Đokić
- vojni istoričar
- Pridružio: 03 Jun 2010
- Poruke: 4066
- Gde živiš: Novi Beograd
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A-10 may retire without replacement, Air Forces Monthly september 2017, p. 14
AIR FORCE Chief of Staff Gen David Goldfein has confirmed that the service may withdraw the A-10C Thunderbolt II without a direct replacement. Interviewed by trade journal Aviation Week on July 16, he said the USAF was yet to commit to develop a so-called ‘A-X’ as a like for like replacement for the Thunderbolt II, and admitted the single-mission CAS platform might disappear from the inventory when the A-10C is retired, currently planned for the mid-2020s.
The USAF is currently seeking additional funds to fly its current nine squadrons of the close support aircraft after 2021. Air Combat Command (ACC) chief Gen Mike Holmes recently spoke of the possibility of retiring a legacy fleet – the A-10C, F-15C or F-16C/D Block 30 – to meet budgetary demands. Addressing an Air Force Association event in Washington DC, he said: “Right now [ACC is] too big for the budget we have.“The consequences are that I have squadrons that are not ready, and I have acquisition programmes that, instead of being executed in two or three years, are being spread out over ten years. It drives up cost, it means they arrive late.”
Gen Holmes also noted that the current 55 ACC squadrons (including 32 active duty) were “not enough to meet the demand that combatant commanders ask for”.
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