{"id":132461,"date":"2021-07-16T11:34:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T11:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=132461"},"modified":"2021-07-16T11:34:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T11:34:10","slug":"the-warthog-and-the-senator-the-politics-of-retiring-a-warplane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/the-warthog-and-the-senator-the-politics-of-retiring-a-warplane\/","title":{"rendered":"The Warthog and the senator: The politics of retiring a warplane"},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force is desperate to get rid of some of its fleet of expensive, slow and outdated A-10 Warthog airplanes, but politicians have blocked the move, aiming to keep the local dollars flowing.<\/p> President Joe Biden wants to retire dozens of the 40-year-old warplanes to free up funding to modernize the military. But within weeks of the release of his proposed defense budget, Democrats drafted a law to keep the planes, many of which are based in Arizona, where Senator Mark Kelly is up for re-election in 2022.<\/p>\n The negotiations over the A-10, which the Air Force has wanted to retire for more than two decades, show the extensive measures Democrats will take to protect their slim majority in the Senate.<\/p>\n Having military aircraft based in a constituency brings enormous economic benefit. The A-10 fleet at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson has been viewed as vital to the base, which contributes about $3 billion to the local economy and is among the region\u2019s top employers, former Tucson Mayor Thomas Volgy said.<\/p>\n Kelly wrote to the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 9 to request $272 million \u201cto restore all funding to the A-10 program\u201d in fiscal 2022 and $615 million to buy new wings to rewing the portion of the A-10 fleet that had been earmarked for retirement.<\/p>\n He also spoke to Democratic Senator Jack Reed, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who in turn prohibited any A-10 retirements in his draft of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, annual legislation that sets defense policy, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.<\/p>\n The NDAA is a long way from becoming law, but items added by the chairman in the draft are difficult to strike, or weaken with an amendment.<\/p>\n Democrats hold a tenuous majority in the 50-50 Senate thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 tie-breaking vote, meaning they cannot afford to lose even one seat in the chamber.<\/p>\n Kelly faces up to seven potential Republican competitors in the race to keep his seat. Mothballing about a fifth of the A-10 fleet would be a significant symbolic blow that local officials fear would foreshadow a longer-term plan to eliminate the planes completely – and could weaken Kelly\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know that the A-10 had been on the chopping block for some time. It has taken a Herculean effort by elected officials to keep the A-10 in the Air Force\u2019s inventory,\u201d Volgy said.<\/p>\n Kelly opposes \u201cretiring A-10s without a suitable replacement to carry out the close air support mission that is critical to our national security and protecting American troops,\u201d a spokesperson told Reuters.<\/p>\n The A-10 has been on the chopping block for many years because it is old – it was first deployed in 1976 – and because it competes with attack helicopters for the best way to provide air support to frontline troops.<\/p>\n While the Air Force plans to install a larger contingent of military personnel at the base once the A-10s are retired – eclipsing the economic fallout from mothballing the planes – Kelly could be blamed for letting some planes go under his watch.<\/p>\n Kelly is seen as among the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2022, along with Georgia\u2019s Raphael Warnock.<\/p>\n The former astronaut and husband of gun-control activist Gabrielle Giffords defeated Republican Senator Martha McSally in a special election last November. But he is up for re-election next year because he is finishing the term of the late Republican Senator John McCain, who also supported retaining the A-10 fleet before he died in 2018.<\/p>\n The funds saved by retiring the planes would go to Air Force<\/p>\n modernization projects like the development of hypersonic weapons. At the same time, Air Force Lieutenant General David Nahom said at a House of Representatives hearing this week that if the number of A-10s is not reduced this year, the Air Force will face a shortage of mechanics for newer planes.<\/p>\n Volgy, currently a University of Arizona professor, said the question is not just about the A-10, \u201cbut making sure Davis-Monthan will remain stable.\u201d<\/p>\n