A-10 får ikke langt liv

USAF FY2016 Budget: U-2 Survives but A-10 Still Cut

by Chris Pocock

 - February 3, 2015, 9:31 AM

The USAF is persisting with its plan to retire the A-10, despite opposition from Congress and elsewhere. (photo: Chris Pocock)

Bowing to pressure from Congress and the Combatant Commanders, the U.S. Air Force has reversed its plan to axe the U-2 reconnaissance fleet in Fiscal Year 2016. But the service is sticking to an equally controversial plan to phase out the A-10 close air support fleet by FY2019, which will save $4.2 billion. It also wants to divest theEC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare version of the Hercules.

Presenting the USAF plans, director of budget Maj. Gen. Jim Martin emphasized that if sequestration returns, further cuts would be unavoidable and readiness would be undermined. The additional cuts could include the entire KC-10, F-15C and U-2 fleets; some E-3s; the 10 RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40s; and improvements to the Global Hawk Block 30 sensors that are supposed to enable the UAV to replace the U-2s. The Boeing 747-8s that were recently selected as the new presidential aircraft would be deferred. The USAF would also be unable to fund research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) for the adaptive engine, the variable-cycle powerplant being proposed by industry that features what Martin described as “revolutionary architecture.” Funding for a long-desired upgrade to the B-2’s defensive management system would also be denied. The Stealth Bomber still carries the electronic warfare suite with which it entered service in 1993.

The USAF also requested RDT&E money for the E-8 JStars replacement, the combat rescue helicopter (CRH) and to accelerate the long-range stand-off weapon (LRSOW). MQ-9 Reapers would get an extended-range kit and a counter-IED electronic warfare system. In the procurement account, the USAF requested 44 F-35As; 12 KC-46As; 29 MQ-9 Reaper UAVs; and 27 more C-130Js in a multi-year buy. Fourteen of the F-35As and nine MQ-9s would not survive sequestration.

Funding for the still-secret Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) rises from $915 million in FY2015 to $1.25 billion in FY2016. The service is due to announce its choice of contractor (Northrop Grumman or a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team) in March.