Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh speaks at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs last July.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh speaks at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs last July. U.S. Air Force photo/Dennis Rogers

Air Force Chief Explains Why He’s Retiring the A-10s

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh, a former A-10 pilot, says after much debate, sequestration forced him to only one conclusion: Cut the A-10 fleet. By Stephanie Gaskell

When Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh and his staff crunched the numbers to find the best way to cut their budget under congressionally mandated sequestration, they looked at the Air Force’s five main missions and worked their way from there.

The former A-10 pilot explained what went into his controversial decision to cut the beloved fleet of close air support fighter jets. “The decision has come under fire from several sectors, but there’s a logical reason we got to that point.”

There’s the mission of air and space superiority, but Welsh determined the Air Force couldn’t cut an entire fleet of F-15s until the F-35 was ready without incurring extra costs. The intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission was practically off limits. “If you ask the combatant commanders, the number one shortfall year after year is ISR,” Welsh said, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “They would not support us cutting any more than we already have projected.”

Airlift mobility could be a good place to achieve savings, Welsh said, since the services are getting smaller. He brought up the idea with his Army counterpart, Gen. Ray Odierno, who shot it down, arguing that being smaller also means being more flexible and agile.

Next came the command and control mission, but as Welsh said, “The only service that can do command and control on a theater scale is the Air Force.” And that left them with strike platforms. Nuclear capabilities were off the table because the Air Force doesn’t control that budget. As for cutting nuclear bombers, Welsh explained: “We need about 80 to 100 nuclear bombers to do deterrence and do any predictable expected campaign kind of flying with a bomber fleet in a large conflict, which I hope we never have to do. But if we have one, you better have about 80 to 100 bombers or you can’t do them both. That’s about how many we have today. They’re aging but we got the right number. We can’t go smaller.”

So that left him with the choice to cut A-10s, B-1s, F-15Es or F-16s. “And we came very clearly to the conclusion that of all those horrible options the least operationally impactful was to divest the A-10 fleet,” Welsh said. “That’s how we got there. It’s not emotional. It’s logical, it’s analytical. It makes imminent sense from a military perspective – if you have to make these kinds of cuts. Nobody likes it. Not me, nobody.”

Cutting the fleet of A-10s will save the Air Force about $4.2 billion, he said. “You just don’t make big savings unless you cut fleets,” he said. Still, it was a tough decision. “This is not about the A-10 not being a great airplane and doing great work.” But it came down to one simple fact.

“Think about the threat 10 years from now. The A-10 will not be part of that threat,” he said. “We’re no longer operating in a single environment.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.