A newly emerged report offers more details on a test comparing the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack plane and the F-35 strike fighter, but raises questions about the 5th-generation jet’s ability to fill the A-10’s close-air support mission. The report, completed in February 2022 by the Defense Department’s Office of Test and Evaluation, was recently released with heavy redactions to the Project On Government Oversight. The report describes the results of a close-air-support flyoff between the F-35A and the A-10C and was mandated by Congress in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, and carried out in 2019.
Many details are blacked out in the version released to POGO. For example, it says the A-10 “enabled more attacks than the typical loadout of the F-35A” but does not reveal how many targets each aircraft hit in the test. The redactions make it hard to discern the context of some of the statements. But there are hints that it required more F-35 sorties than A-10 sorties to accomplish some missions. That may stem in part from the A-10’s ability to carry more munitions. The report also noted that the newer gun hasn’t always managed to shoot straight.
Russ Goemaere, a spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office, told Defense One that the program has “improved” the gun and the jet’s interoperability with 4th-gen fighters and said “they are effective.” In his own analysis, POGO’s Dan Grazier wrote, “Despite the heavy redactions in the released report, it is clear the results of these flawed tests disappointed the powers that be. The Air Force would not comment on the report, nor say whether service leaders had tried to prevent the report’s release. The U.S. military has made heavy use of the A-10 in recent decades. The Air Force would not comment on the report. A spokesperson said that close air support is a mission, not a specific platform.
Air Force officials have long sought to retire the A-10. U.S. has made use of the A-10 in recent decades, deploying it to Iraq for multiple conflicts and to Afghanistan against the Taliban. When asked about the report, one of the House Armed Services Committee’s prominent members said he’s ready to bid farewell to the A-10—if not its capabilities. Rep. Rob Wittman, chairman of HASC’s tactical air and land forces subcommittee, said he’s confident the Air Force can find a way to retain CAS capabilities as it moves to the F-35.
