When Senator John McCain was in Tucson last May speaking at the Pima County Republican Club, he swore to stop the retirement of the A-10 Warthog ground attack jet, if the Republicans were to win back a majority in the Senate which would put him in-line to become chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee.
Well last Tuesday, the voters gave Sen. John McCain what he had asked, so it was no surprise to hear Sen. McCain say again on Friday the A-10 is the best close-air support aircraft ever made and there is "no doubt" Congress will prevent its retirement. McCain says there's no replacement for the jet's close-air support mission and pointed to a friendly fire in Afghanistan where a B-1 bomber mistakenly targeted American troops, killing five.
The Air Force announced plans earlier this year to retire the jet as a cost-savings measure, but Congress blocked it in June's defense spending bill until December 2014.
“The world is more unstable today than any time in recent history, and a strong military is vital to protecting U.S. national security interests around the world. It would be irresponsible and potentially deadly if we did away with the A-10 before fielding a suitable and operational replacement. Recent challenges in other Air Force planes that perform air support missions have only strengthened my belief that now is not the time to retire the A-10, the best close-air support weapon in our nation’s arsenal,” said McCain.
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson is home to the 355th Operations Group, which includes more than 80 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and thousands of military and civilian personnel.
Take Action Now! Let the Air Force know you support Davis-Monthan’s Pilot Training
Mission Strong, a community group formed to help save Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DM) needs your help to make a difference right now. Please send an email before Nov. 24 to the Air Force to show our community supports DM, its training programs and missions critical to our nation’s defense.
Send your email to 355fw.pa.comment@us.af.mil.
Why? The Air Force released a new draft Environmental Assessment (EA) of proposed increased training flights at DM. The EA’s preferred alternative would nearly double the number of flights here under the Total Force Training Mission across US Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and National Guard pilots, as well as foreign-ally pilot training. The EA is required under the National Environmental Policy Act, and recommends a finding of “no significant impact” from the increase. In other words, as it stands the EA would support the increased training.
We need to let the Air Force know now that we agree with their EA and we support this expanded training at DM. After the Nov. 24 deadline for comments, the Air Force’s undersecretary for installations will review them and decide if further study is needed.
Here are some points you may want to include in your email:
- I am writing to express my support for the Davis-Monthan AFB Total Force Training draft Environmental Assessment finding of no significant impact.
- The expanded mission represents an insignificant increase in total operations and therefore no further environmental analysis is needed.
- The US Department of Defense needs places to conduct training year-round and we are proud Davis-Monthan is one of the best in the world.
- Davis-Monthan is a vital, valued part of our community. We are honored as southern Arizonans to support our military bases, training and our national defense.
If you want more details on the EA visit www.dm.af.mil/library/tftea.asp. Please send your email today to: 355fw.pa.comment@us.af.mil. And please share this message with your friends.