The Air Force sent at least 39 retired A-10 Thunderbolt IIs to the boneyard in 2024, a significant increase as the service moves toward removing the aircraft from its inventory even as it recently used the planes in training exercises and in combat overseas.
Data from the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona showed that 39 A-10C aircraft were brought to the boneyard -- the final resting place for retired planes and jets -- between January and September 2024. It's not clear how many were sent in the final three months of the year.
By comparison, there were 17 A-10s sent during the entire year prior, according to the inventory data -- about half as many as the 2024 number. It's a notable increase after Congress allowed the first A-10 retirements in decades in 2022.
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The hefty 57-foot, 6-inch wingspan close-support aircraft known as the "Warthog" has been in service since the 1970s, and was used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the Air Force's fleet has been significantly reduced in recent years following the 2022 retirements. The service set out to retire another 56 of the aircraft in its fiscal 2025 budget request.
In early 2024, Maryland's Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport announced it would be transitioning the 175th Fighter Wing, which had 21 A-10s, to a cyber unit. In February, the 355th Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base also began divesting its A-10 fleet, Military.com reported.
Additionally, in November, it was announced that, starting in January 2025, the 25th Fighter Squadron at Osan Air Base in South Korea would phase out its 24 A-10 Warthogs for newer aircraft.
"By introducing advanced fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft like our upgraded (F-16 Fighting Falcons), along with (F-35 Lightning IIs) and (F-15EX Eagle IIs) in the Pacific region, we are significantly enhancing our overall air combat capabilities in the Korean theater," Lt. Gen. David Iverson, Seventh Air Force commander and U.S. Forces Korea deputy commander, said in a news release.
The National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Joe Biden last month reduced the minimum number of A-10s the Air Force must keep in its inventory from 135 to just 96.
Despite the heavy number of retirements, the Air Force is still utilizing the aircraft overseas in training exercises, shows of force and combat.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's top spokesman, told reporters last month that U.S. Central Command "successfully engaged a hostile target employing A-10 fighter aircraft" in Syria.
Most recently, the Air Force also used A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in a December exercise with the Philippine Air Force, according to a news release, a notable training demonstration as tensions continue to rise with China in the Pacific.
Dan Grazier, a senior fellow for the National Security Reform Program at the nonprofit Stimson Center think tank in Washington, D.C., who has done extensive reporting and research on the A-10, told Military.com that the aircraft is effective at close-air support and, despite the retirements, there isn't a close replacement for what it offers on the battlefield.
"The capability that the A-10 provides still has lots of relevance," Grazier said. "The A-10 itself, it still intimidates, and is able to generate some fear and concern in any potential adversaries that we have."
Incoming President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who is slated to lead a Department of Government Efficiency in the next administration, have both openly criticized the production and use of the F-35 -- an aircraft that was pushed, in part, as the close-air support replacement to the aging A-10.
Grazier added that it's possible Trump's Department of Defense could refocus on the tactical use of the A-10, and that the aircraft could potentially see new life under his administration.
"You combine that with the clear dissatisfaction with the F-35 program and you combine that with an administration that's interested in cutting wasteful spending, that includes defense spending, the A-10 just provides far more bang for the buck," Grazier added.
