WASHINGTON – Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, along with Arizona Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02), Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01), Greg Stanton (AZ-09), and Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), wrote to President Biden expressing their concern with his plan to retire the A-10 aircraft housed at Arizona’s Davis Monthan Air Force Base, and urging him to protect the aircraft.
“We are writing to express grave concern with your administration’s plans to retire a vital national security asset, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the ‘Warthog.’… While we support the Administration’s modernization goals, we cannot support the premature retirement of one of our most vital military assets, which could in turn put the lives of service members at unnecessary risk. The A-10 has proven its usefulness in combat time and time again, and we look forward to working with you to ensure this vital national security platform remains part of our arsenal,” wrote Sinema, Kelly, Kirkpatrick, O’Halleran, Stanton, and Gallego.
To read the full letter click HERE.
President Biden recently released his fiscal year 2022 budget which calls for the partial retirement of the A-10. Earlier this month, the Arizona delegation wrote a bipartisan letter to Acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth expressing continued support for the A-10 Warthog and calling on the Air Force to answer questions about their failure to complete congressionally directed upgrades and re-winging of the aircraft and other assessments of the Air Force’s close air support capabilities.
