Iran Saved the A-10 Warthog: The A-10C Thunderbolt II, known as the “Warthog,” got another extension on its long life this week, with the news, from Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, that the plane will keep flying through 2030, while previous plans had called for it to retire by the end of this year.
The announcement came from Meink in an X post on Monday, adding that the decision had been made in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
“We will EXTEND the A-10 ‘Warthog’ platform to 2030,” Meink announced. “This preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production.”
A-10 Warthog 19FortyFive.com Image
The Air Force secretary went on to thank the president for “your unwavering support of our warfighters and quick, decisive leadership as we equip our force.”
The plane has already survived a lot, and the Air Force has been talking about retiring it for at least 5 years.
“If it doesn’t threaten China, why are we doing it?” then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in 2021 at that year’s Reagan National Defense Forum.
“I love the A-10,” Kendall said in a different interview that year, while also praising the C-130 and MQ-9s.
“They’re still useful,” he told Reuters, “but none of these things scare China.”
“Stub-nosed and relatively slow for a jet fighter, the A-10 entered service in the late 1970s, designed as a low-flying, tank-killing attack plane built to take on Cold War-era Russian tank formations,” Task & Purpose wrote of the fighter. “The A-10 saw action against air and ground forces in the Gulf War and then in the Balkans during NATO operations in the Yugoslav wars.”
A-10 Warthog At the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force 2025 Image. Image taken by Harry J. Kazianis for 19FortyFive.com
The A-10 Warthog in Iran
According to Military Times, the A-10 has been used extensively during Operation Epic Fury in Iran. And, in fact, that performance seems to be why it was spared.
On April 1, the New York Times reported that the fleet of A-10s in the Middle East was being doubled. The Air Force, the newspaper said, was “dispatching 18 A-10s to join roughly a dozen A-10s already in the region that U.S. commanders have used to attack Iranian boats and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.”
“The A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank, and is hunting and killing fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the time.
The piece had speculated that the Warthogs could be used in operations to try to open the Strait of Hormuz. The Times also said that the A-10s had been stopped at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, in the U.K., despite Britain’s lack of direct involvement in the Iran war.
“A-10s have provided close air support in maritime operations in the Strait of Hormuz and were involved in the recent search and rescue mission that recovered two downed F-15E airmen,” the Military Times account said. One A-10 crashed during one of those missions, but the pilot was rescued.
A-10 Warthog Lakeland Florida Airshow 19FortyFive.com. Taken on 4/19/2026.
“The Most Survivable Plane Ever Built”
This week, Aviation Geek Club published an account by a pilot who has flown the Warthog and expressed his appreciation for it.
Lynn Taylor, who has flown the A-10, answered some questions about it recently on Quora, as cited by AGC.
“Enclosed within the titanium armor are the two components that are least resistant to damage: the flight control junction box (where everything connects to the stick), and the stick actuator (that’s the pilot, lad),” Taylor said of the A-10.
“‘The big bubble canopy is not armored at all. In fact, there is a “canopy breaker tool” in the cockpit (essentially a dull, curved-blade knife) for use in case you are trapped inside on a sunny day and can’t raise the canopy any other way. Obviously, if there is any chance of breaking through with a dull blade, the material isn’t going to stop a bullet.”
Geek Club cited several “genius designs” that made the Warthog slow but strong, from “beefy wings” to “cool-running high-bypass turbofans” to “Main landing gear that hangs out of the fairings a little when retracted, facilitating gear-up landings.”
A-10 Warthog Lakeland Air Show 19FortyFive Photo
“‘Of course, the idea is to not get hit in the first place. Anyone who insists that the Hawg only flies “low and slow” is operating on decades-old intel. These days, the venerable Hawg typically operates up in the lower stratosphere like all of the (other) fast movers and slings JDAMs and Mavericks like the rest of them,” Taylor said of the Warthog on the Quora page.
“‘That said, it can still get down in the weeds when necessary to get below the weather, or to deliver crazy accurate fire with a small collateral damage footprint, because the guys on the ground are in a virtual knife fight and need air support,” Taylor said.
‘When that call comes, the Hawg doesn’t mind the risk of taking some fire to get the job done, because it’s been built to take it.”
A Miraculous Landing
In 2018, Aviation Geek Club wrote about the story of an A-10 that successfully landed despite a hole in the cowling of one of its engines.
The story was told in Gary Wetzel’s book, “A-10 Thunderbolt II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom 2008-14,” about a memorable flight during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The story was told by the pilot, Capt. Aaron Cavazos, from the 75th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (EFS), about the time they provided air support to a SEAL unit and an Army Ranger squad in the mountains of Afghanistan.
A-10 Warthog. Image Credit: 19FortyFive.com
“As I let off the trigger on my second pass, I saw that the master caution light had started flashing. I looked down into the cockpit and saw that my entire left engine instrument stack was completely lit up,” Cavazos said, as cited in the book.
“Everything that could be lit up was lit up. As I continued to egress away from the target area, the left engine RPM had dropped to less than 20. That told me the situation with the power plant was catastrophic. With the nose of the jet now approaching the horizon, I checked to make sure that my left engine fire handle was on, which confirmed that all my engine instruments were indeed working and that the TF34 was actually on fire.”
He was, however, able to escape and fly towards Kandahar. And not only did he land, but the next day he flew the same jet again.
A-10 Warthog. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
