After ISIS defeat the A-10 maybe returning to Afghanistan

Military Times:
America’s beloved A-10 Thunderbolt II ―the “Warthog” ― may be headed back to Afghanistan, Military Times has learned.

A senior Afghan defense official told Military Times that the Afghan government wants the aircraft to return. However, discussions to bring the A-10 to Afghanistan are in early stages, and no decision to bring the aircraft back into theater has been made.

“The discussions of what forces we move to Afghanistan or drawdown from Iraq and Syria are all ongoing,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Lance Bunch, director of U.S. air operations in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon. “We have not made any decisions at this time to move A-10s, that I know of.”

As operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria wind down, other air assets may be flexed to Afghanistan. In recent months, six additional F-16s and a KC-135 Stratotanker have bolstered U.S. air assets in the country. There are currently 18 F-16s in country, according to a Pentagon official.

A-10s have been vital to U.S. operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, the 74th Fighter Squadron has dealt punishing blows to ISIS fighters in support of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
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I have been a big fan of the A-10 since the first Gulf war when they were plunking Saddam Husein's tanks into piles of wreckage on the desert.  While they were built as an anti-tank aircraft for the European theater in the Cold War, they have been ideal at giving close air support to troops in contact with the enemy.  I am sure the Taliban still fear them.

Comments

  1. From what I have read in the past as soon as the A-10's arrived the Taliban broke contact, began to withdraw.

    ReplyDelete

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