Letter to Thad Cochran, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Patrick Leahy, Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Nita Lowey, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee - Young, Donnelly Call on Congress to Fully Fund A-10 Program

Letter

Dear Chairman Cochran, Chairman Frelinghuysen, Vice Chairman Leahy, and Ranking Member Lowey:

As you work to finalize defense appropriations for fiscal year (FY) 2018, we urge you to fully fund the Air Force unfunded requirement of $103 million for A-10 aircraft wings.

Despite the Air Force's past efforts to retire the A-10, the Air Force testified to all four defense committees this year that it intends to retain the A-10 for the foreseeable future. This revised plan is reflection not only of repeated mandates by Congress, but also of the fact that the A-10 provides our nation a unique close air support capability and remains essential to the Air Force's ability to meet combatant commander requirements around the globe.

In addition to its leading role in conducting close air support in the fight against ISIS, the A-10 has supported counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, maintaining the U.S. readiness to "fight tonight" on the Korean Peninsula, pushing back on illegal territorial claims in the South China Sea, and reassuring our European allies in the face of Russian aggression. Hoosiers from the 122nd Fighter Wing in Fort Wayne, Indiana, have contributed to these missions with deployments ranging from combatting ISIS in the Middle East to building capabilities and partnerships in Eastern Europe.

For years, both the authorizing and appropriating committees have taken bipartisan action to preserve the A-10 fleet. Under current law, the Air Force is required to maintain no less than 1,970 fighter aircraft overall and a minimum of 171 combat-coded A-10s with adequate personnel and maintenance. Wing set replacements are critical to the Air Force's ability to comply with these congressional requirements, support our ground troops, and meet combatant commander requirements.

Today, more than one-third of the A-10 fleet is in dire need of wing set replacements in order to safely continue operating it the coming years. In September 2017, General Ellen Pawlikowski, Commander of Air Force Materiel Command, said the Air Force would be forced to start grounding A-10s beginning in 2018 because their wings will have reached the end of their service life. Without the necessary funding, it is our understanding that the number of A-10 aircraft grounded for unsafe wings will increase significantly in subsequent years. Failure to replace the wing sets on these aircraft may even force a reduction in the number of A-10 squadrons, as was alluded to in June 2017 testimony to the House Armed Services Committee by Lieutenant General Arnold Bunch, the Air Force's top uniformed acquisition officer.

In order to retain the A-10's close air support capabilities that are vital to our ground troops and special operations forces, it is essential that Congress provide adequate funding in FY18 for wing set replacements. For that reason, we urge you to ensure the final bill fully funds the Air Force's $103 million UFR for A-10 aircraft wings, in line with the final FY18 National Defense Authorization Act and the House-passed version of the FY18 defense appropriations bill.

Sincerely,

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