Desert Lightning News So. AZ Edition News – March 2024

Vol. 17, No. 3 Serving Southern Arizona’s military community, including Davis-Monthan Air Force Base March 2024 Look for expanded coverage in the digital edition of Desert Lightning News
online at www.aerotechnews.com/davis-monthanafb/.
Davis-Monthan retires A-10 aircraft
INSIDE
by Airman 1st Class RoBeRT ALLeN Cooke III & Staff Sgt. NIChoLAS RoSS
355th Wing Public Affairs
After nearly 50 years at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, the 355th Wing has begun divesting its fleet of A-10 Thun- derbolt II aircraft.
A-10C aircraft 82-648 was retired from service at Davis-Monthan and transited from the 354th Fighter Squadron to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regen- eration Group, where hundreds of retired aircraft are stored, for final maintenance procedures and display preparation.
“The A-10 has been the symbol of Davis- Monthan Air Force Base for many years, and it will continue to be a symbol for the Airmen of DM, a symbol of their commit- ment, excellence and service,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Scott Mills, 355th Wing commander and A-10 pilot. “For now, we’re divesting a single squadron during the summer-fall timeframe of 2024.”
The U.S. Air Force is planning to divest the entire fleet of A-10 aircraft within the next 3-5 years. Pilots and maintainers at Davis-Monthan will move onto the F-35 Lightning II.
“There will always be a job for main- tainers; it may not be on the A-10, but the Air Force needs maintainers to sustain airpower,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Clarence McRae, 355th Maintenance Group com- mander, “Perhaps the biggest draw of future maintainers will be in the F-35 community. Airplanes are still going to break, and we are still going to fix them.”
Originally designed for Close Air Sup- port, or CAS, by Fairchild Republic, an aircraft and aerospace manufacturing com- pany, the first A-10 model had the capability to carry bombs and rockets on 11 pylons and
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Robert Allen Cooke III
An A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft prior to divestment at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Feb. 6, 2024. Aircraft 82-648 was retired from service and transited to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
StorIES
MWD collaboration, 3 AF bringing back warrant
officers, 4
Retired members welcome back, 8
Wing receives new helos, 10 FEAtUrE
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Abbey Rieves
48th RQS in action duRing agile angel
See Pages 6 and 7
featured a 30mm GAU-8/A rotary cannon protruding from the nose of the aircraft.
“The plane is unique in its diverse ability to support our ground team not only with precision munitions from a distance, like we’re doing as we speak in the Middle East, but also with scalpel-like accuracy using the GAU-8 gun under the most difficult en- vironments imaginable,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Razvan Radoescu, 355th Operations Group commander. “The plane, coupled with our high-level training standards, are the reasons so many of our joint and coali- tion forces returned home to fight another day — because they had A-10s overhead covering their six, or employing weapons
to save their lives when nobody else could.” The first model of the aircraft to arrive at Davis-Monthan was an A-10A on March 2, 1976. This model was assigned to the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing that arrived here in 1971 and replaced the Vought A-7D Corsair flown by the 355th TFW. The 355th TFW was later reclassified as the 355th Tacti- cal Fighter Training Wing, prompting the 354th, 357th, and 358th Fighter squadrons to train U.S. Air Force pilots on the A-10A
aircraft.
“While the aircraft’s maneuverability and
munitions, including the mighty GAU-8, make it overwhelmingly effective on the battlefield, it’s the pilot that makes it spe- cial,” Mills said. “The pilot has been trained to care about and understand the young Army infantryman on the ground; they are the mission.”
Coinciding with the divestment, Davis- Monthan plans to expand its Rescue Foot- print, which may lead to additional utility of the HC-130 aircraft and the HH-60W he- licopter. Airframes expected to arrive from the Air Force Special Operations Command include the MC-130 and OA-1K.
“From an Ops personnel standpoint, this divestment arguably allows a more expeditious stand-up of the F-35, even as that program continues to struggle with a variety of delays,” said Radoescu.
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U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Robert Allen Cooke III
An A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft is maintained at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Feb. 6, 2024. The original A-10C aircraft model was built by Fairchild Republic, an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company.