Double the Service Life

April 13, 2007

The A-10 fleet currently averages 8,400 flight hours, but Col. James Ratti, A-10 system program manager at the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, told reporters Wednesday that the precise engagement upgraded C model Warthog should retire with 16,000 flight hours. It will be in the service’s inventory until at least 2028 and will begin to “ramp down” with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s presence. At this point, Ratti said, the A-10 is about halfway through its service life. The PE program “ushers in a whole second lifetime for the A-10 in terms of capability and relevancy on today’s battlefield,” he added.

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