Overview
- Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said on X that the A-10 will remain in service until 2030 to keep strike power intact as industry scales up newer jets.
- The U.S. military reported flying A-10s in the war in Iran, placing the close-support jet back in combat alongside other fighters.
- The A-10 was built for low, slow close air support and carries a heavy nose cannon, which lets it loiter over ground targets to back up troops.
- The Air Force has tried for decades to retire the 1970s-era aircraft, yet it proved its worth from the 1991 Gulf War through strikes on ISIS in Syria.
- Analysts cited in coverage say using A-10s over Iran may signal weakened Iranian air defenses, though that remains an interpretation rather than a confirmed fact.