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The A-10 Warthog is Finally Getting Retired. Why Not Send Them to Ukraine?
Rant start:
News just broke that the US Air Force is finally pushing the legendary A-10 Thunderbolt II, yes, the Warthog, out to the Arizona boneyard.
But as Ukraine faces waves of Russian Shahed drones, military tech nerds everywhere (myself included) are screaming at their screens: “Just send the BRRRRT machine to Kyiv already!”
On paper, it’s a match made in drone-smashing heaven: an aircraft famous for tank-busting that could also unleash a biblical storm of guided rockets against drones and naval threats.
So why is the Air Force determined to retire the A-10, and what’s stopping the US from shipping these beasts to Ukraine before they rust in the desert?
The Pentagon’s latest budget quietly admits what some of us have suspected: the A-10 can now launch the same Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rockets that are turning F-16s and F-15Es into drone-swatting machines. With new FALCO software and proximity fuzes, these 70mm rockets aren’t just for ground targets; they’re drone and cruise missile killers.
The Air Force is planning to retire all 162 A-10s by 2026. Yet, as the drone war heats up, especially with Russia throwing hundreds of Shaheds and naval drones at Ukraine, the…
