The Air Force
doesn’t
expect to get permission to retire the A-10 Warthog, and that’s a big
threat to declaring initial operational capability with the F-35 on time, F-35
system program manager
Lt.
Gen. Chris Bogdan said Thursday. “I’m very worried” about meeting the
August 2016 IOC date for the Air Force because “we may not be able to give them
… what they need” in time, he said at a press conference. USAF needs 1,100 F-35
maintainers in place to declare IOC, and 800 of them were to be “experienced” crew
chiefs and backshop people brought over from the A-10 community, Bogdan
explained. If Congress won’t allow the A-10’s retirement, the Air Force will
not only have to come up with an extra 800 people somewhere to send to the F-35,
but the number of experienced maintainers available will be smaller. It takes
“a lot longer” to train a brand-new maintainer to be a 5-7-level tech than the
“tech sergeants, master sergeants, and senior master sergeants who sign off” on
the jet’s paperwork before it can fly, Bogdan said. Meeting USAF’s requirements
is now “a goal that’s really hard to get to,” though he has not abandoned it,
Bogdan said.
