Boeing touts A-10s for international customers should USAF divest fleet
Gareth Jennings, San Antonio, Texas - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
20 May 2015
The USAF's plans to retire its A-10 fleet could provide opportunities for international operators to acquire the type. Source: US Air Force
Boeing is in discussions with the US Air Force (USAF) to sell off the service's Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft to international customers should the fleet be retired from the inventory, a senior company official disclosed on 20 May.
Speaking to reporters at Boeing's Global Services and Support facility in San Antonio, Texas, Paul Cejas, chief engineer for off-Boeing platforms, said that the company and the USAF are in the early stages of discussions to sell off surplus A-10s to international customers, which he declined to name.
Boeing is the de facto prime for the A-10, owning the technology data packages for the legacy aircraft, and is currently under contract to re-wing 173 of the USAF's approximately 300 A-10s (a number already being in storage), with options for 69 more. Of these, 105 have been completed and delivered back to the USAF, with the contract set to run through to the first quarter of 2017.
Should the USAF be allowed to the retire the A-10 as it wishes (but which is opposed by the US Congress), the Cejas said that the re-winging contract is now so far along that the most likely course of action would be for the service to complete the contract and then look to offload the aircraft to interested third parties.
As well as offering re-winged aircraft, Cejas said that Boeing would look at a wider modernisation effort ahead of any proposed sale. This, he noted, would include new engines, a cockpit upgrade (including a helmet-mounted cueing system), and targeting pods. Cejas explained that these proposed enhancements are currently in a concept stage, and are not being touted in response to any specific customer requests.
Cejas declined to name the potential customers for any off-loaded A-10s, saying that this would be a matter for the USAF to disclose.
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