USAF to cut 250 fighter aircraft by fall of this year - to save money for NEW aircraft

[Ridge]

Air Force cutting its fighter fleet

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Feb 14, 2010 10:27:01 EST

By fall, 250 fighters will be in the boneyard and the 4,000 airmen who fly or fix them will have new jobs, according to an officer overseeing the aircraft drawdown.

The first planes head for retirement April 1; if all goes as planned, the last ones will be off the flight line by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

“Units have already started to put people on the move list,” said Col. Jack Forsythe, with the Air Staff’s strategic plans directorate.

The Air Force unveiled the retirement plans in May but needed congressional approval to decommission the fighters, including primary, attrition reserve and backup inventory aircraft. The permission came Dec. 19, when President Obama signed the Defense Department’s fiscal 2010 budget.

Included in the budget, however, are stipulations that the Air Force write several reports explaining, for example, the rationale for the retirements and the impact that the smaller fleet will have on Operation Noble Eagle, the military operations related to homeland security.

“All the reports have been written and are under review,” Forsythe said. “We expect to have them to Congress in time for the 1 April deadline.” Retiring the planes — 135 F-15C/D Eagles, 112 F-16C Fighting Falcons and three A-10 Thunderbolts — should save $350 million in fiscal 2010 and $3.5 billion in the next five years, Forsythe said.

The service hopes the saved dollars help pay for new aircraft.

The positions assigned to the fighters will be transferred to growing missions such as surveillance and intelligence analysis, said Forsythe, who was operations group commander for F-117 Nighthawks at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., when those jets were retired two years ago.

Planes will leave a few at a time and personnel will transfer when their fighters are retired. Maintainers and life support personnel will be reassigned to similar duties, Forsythe said.

Most pilots will continue to fly but may have to cross-train into new planes.

Last year, the Air Force identified many of the wings and squadrons to be decommissioned, but is still drawing up specific Air Force-wide retirement plans.

WHAT’S IN, WHAT’S OUT
Changes announced by the service last year*:

F-15C/D
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.: 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron loses two Eagles.

Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska: 19th Fighter Squadron loses 24 jets.

Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii: 199th Fighter Squadron loses 15 aircraft.

Langley Air Force Base, Va.: 71st Fighter Squadron loses 18 airplanes.

RAF Lakenheath, England: 48th Fighter Wing loses six Eagles.

Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.: 325th Fighter Wing loses 48 fighters.

F-16
Fort Wayne International Airport, Ind.: 163rd Fighter Squadron loses 18 fighters.

Hill Air Force Base, Utah: 34th Fighter Squadron loses 24 Falcons.

Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.: 188th Fighter Squadron loses 18 jets.

Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.: 56th Fighter Wing loses 28 fighters.

Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany: 52nd Fighter Wing loses 18 Falcons.

A-10
Barksdale Air Force Base, La.: 47th Fighter Squadron loses three fighters.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.: 354th Fighter Squadron loses three Thunderbolts and 358th Fighter Squadron loses three aircraft.

Moody Air Force Base, Ga.: 74th Fighter Squadron loses three aircraft and 75th Fighter Squadron loses three Warthogs.

Fort Wayne International Airport, Ind.: 163rd Fighter Squadron gains 18 A-10s.

Osan Air Base, South Korea: 25th Fighter Squadron loses three Thunderbolts.

Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.: 303rd Fighter Squadron loses three jets.

*The aircraft numbers don’t include the backup and attrition reserve aircraft the units are retiring.

[sniper7]

wow, sad to see these birds go to the graveyard. I had heard a bit about this but didn't know the exact numbers.

[theGinsue]

I agree, sad to see. these were the aircraft that I used to watch taking off and landing through my career. As I see them getting retired, I realize that I too am getting old.

Interesting to note that all of the 18 A-10's that are getting cut will be absorbed by the increase of 18 A-10's @ Fort Wayne International Airport (Ft. Wayne has an international airport?).

[Troublco]

Last time the Air Force had a big drawdown it was of personnel, and was going to do the same thing with the money. They didn't bother to get permission from the SecDef when they cut 40,000 people so they could redirect the money to 'weapons systems', and use the new systems to cover the loss of personnel. The Army found out about the money, went to the SecDef and cried that they needed that money that the AF obviously didn't. So, the SecDef gave them the money. (Lots of folks don't know about that.)

That AF leadership got canned; let us devoutly hope that the new leadership is better. I knew some of this was coming; some of it is either new or a result of shuffling.

Seems to me that with things spread as thin as they are now that they should consider waiting to retire some of this equipment until they actually get the new equipment. That is, IF we ever get it.

[Ridge]

I just wonder what new planes they are planning on?

The F-22 only has ~120rd fighters, and there won't be any more.
The F-35 is still in the early testing stages, and is years behind schedule and millions over budget...

[KevDen2005]

I also hate to see these quality aircraft be lost. I think as a county we rely way too much on technology. I certainly see the importance of great surveillance aircraft but what about the importance of good combat aircraft for real combat missions, bombings, and even dog-fighting. Right now there is no need for that I suppose, but things change and we may need it again


Did no one else see TOP GUN?!?!?!

There has to be some air force guys on here that agree with me whether they were pilots or not

[Troublco]

There's been talk (From congress, of all places) of buying some F-18's for the reserves and guard. Dumbest thing I've ever heard. They actually still build F-16's. We happen to have a bunch of older ones, for the moment. Wouldn't be too much of a push to just change to a newer model. Heck, we even happen to know how to fix them, fly them, all the important things. We'd get them a lot sooner. And I bet they're a LOT cheaper than the F-35's, if they ever actually show up.......

[Colorado Osprey]

I just wonder what new planes they are planning on?

The F-22 only has ~120rd fighters, and there won't be any more.
The F-35 is still in the early testing stages, and is years behind schedule and millions over budget...

I was thinking the same thing.

I remember in the 1980's when I was accepted to the USAF Academy that mine was supposed to be the last generation of manned pilots and that piloted aircraft were supposed to go away. 1st because fighter aircraft's ability had exceeded the human body's ability to be piloted and in combat there was no life to be lost if an aircraft was downed.

I don't think it will go the way like the movie "Stealth", but I sure see piloted fighter drones on the horizon.

Aren't the A-10"C" upgrade models supposed to be in inventory in 2011? Maybe these are the supposed "NEW" aircraft.
The GAO approved them in 2007 for an upgrade cost of $4.4 billion.

[Hoosier]

Interesting to note that all of the 18 A-10's that are getting cut will be absorbed by the increase of 18 A-10's @ Fort Wayne International Airport (Ft. Wayne has an international airport?).

They once had a flight to Canada, probably. FWIW these are the only military combat aircraft stationed in Indiana. Fun to watch them do knife edge turns over the cornfields of northern Indiana though.

H.

[theGinsue]

I also hate to see these quality aircraft be lost. I think as a county we rely way too much on technology. I certainly see the importance of great surveillance aircraft but what about the importance of good combat aircraft for real combat missions, bombings, and even dog-fighting. Right now there is no need for that I suppose, but things change and we may need it again


Did no one else see TOP GUN?!?!?!

There has to be some air force guys on here that agree with me whether they were pilots or not

We tend to have short memories for the tried and true and move on to something newer & shinier. Sort of the "SQUIRREL!" A.D.D. effect on a national defense sort of level.

I just wonder what new planes they are planning on?

The F-22 only has ~120rd fighters, and there won't be any more.
The F-35 is still in the early testing stages, and is years behind schedule and millions over budget...

Then I'm sure it will be the F-35 - it's just the way we seem to operate anymore.