“Keeping around the airplane a bit longer is something that's being considered based on things as they are today and what we see in the future," US Air Combat Command chief General Herbert Carlisle told the Defense Writers Group breakfast, The Hill newspaper said.
Carlisle stated the reasons pointing to such a decision to include the value of the aircraft in the current US-led air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, other US military commitments as well as the slower procurement rate for the replacement Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, The Hill added.
“I think if you look at what we'd like to do is probably [retire] a couple of squadrons maybe early… but I think the majority of it we would move it a couple of years, two to three years, to the right,” Carlisle explained.
He also acknowledged that growing demands on the US Air Force for more ground support missions in different countries factored in considerations to keep the A-10 in active service.
“One of our challenges today is capacity. If you look at the demand signal that's placed on the United States Air Force across all of our mission areas, the demand signal has gone up… obviously we're in Turkey now, which we weren't before the fight against [ISIL],” Carlisle said.
In addition, the US Air Force was being called to fly ground support missions in an increasing number of other countries, the general admitted.
“What's happening in Yemen, what's happening in the horn of Africa, what's happening in Libya, combined with the fact we're not leaving Afghanistan… for at least one more year there, has all put a greater demand on the capacity of the United States Air Force,” The Hill reported Carlisle as saying.
