Men vortesvinet var ikke død...... - Curt Lewis

Amended bill may open door for upgrade of A-10 aircraft wings A-10 Thunderbolt jets at the Selfridge base were deployed to southwest Asia to support anti-ISIS efforts for much of 2015. Defense contractors could submit bids by next week on a new contract to supply more than 100 sets of new A-10 aircraft wings, with help from a new $100 million that cleared the House on Thursday. An amended version of the U.S. Department of Defense appropriations bill for fiscal 2017 passed the House 282-138, largely along party lines, with a new appropriation to supply wing upgrades to the A-10 fleet at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township and elsewhere. Proposals are due Monday from contractor businesses interested in a possible five-year U.S. Air Force contract to supply up to 10-25 new sets of A-10 wings per year for its A-10 fleet. Chicago-based Boeing Co. has had a re-winging contract since December 2007 for the Air Force and Air National Guard to supply replacement wing assemblies for at least 173 of the roughly 300 A-10s still in service by 2017. The new contract under consideration presumably supplements the Boeing wing production. A recent amendment to the new appropriations bill adds funding to maintain and upgrade A-10s, including $100 million for wing upgrades. The bill now advances to the Senate. "The A-10, without question, provides the best close air support in combat throughout the world," U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, vice-chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and a co-sponsor of the amendment with wing funding. "(A) a vote for this critical defense funding legislation is a vote to give the brave heroes who put themselves in harm's way for our freedom and liberty the support they and their families have more than earned." Selfridge's 107th Fighter Squadron has now completed two combat deployments since it began flying the A-10 in 2008, including last year against ISIS in Southwest Asia. The new bill also includes a provision freezing any use of defense funds from divesting or retiring the A-10 fleet, which members of Congress have added annually in recent years - but Defense Secretary Ash Carter said earlier this year he expects the Pentagon to keep flying the aircraft through 2022. Selfridge hosts 21 A-10s in Macomb County, and the Michigan Air National Guard has said the aircraft directly supports about 180 full-time jobs and almost 300 part-time jobs at the base.