Add another task to the growing list of missions being assigned to the venerable Fairchild Republic A-10 ground-attack fighter.
Photos released by the US Navy (USN) on 7 May show a four-ship flight of A-10s from the US Air Force (USAF) escorting one of the navy’s ballistic missile submarines during a coastal strait transit.
The ship in question, the nuclear-powered USS Nebraska, was passing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca – a waterway connecting the Seattle-area’s Puget Sound with the Pacific Ocean.
Regarding the purpose of the A-10 flight, the navy says only that the fighters joined a US Coast Guard vessel in screening the Nebraska’s transit to help “ensure the US military is ready to meet its security commitments at home and abroad”.
The Puget Sound is home to the USN’s Naval Base Kitsap, which houses the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and 12 submarines, six of which can be equipped with nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.
According to the navy, the USS Nebraska passed through the Juan de Fuca strait on 6 May. The service did not confirm the nature of cruise, but the Pentagon regularly keeps multiple ballistic missile subs deployed at sea as part of Washington’s strategic nuclear deterrent.
The use of the low-altitude, slow-flying A-10 for ship-escort duty comes as the USAF is increasingly seeking new missions for the iconic “Warthog” – which air force brass view as too vulnerable to survive attack by modern air defences.
Senior officials at the Pentagon have for years sought to retire the Cold War-era tank killer, but have been largely unsuccessful due to legislative opposition in Congress.
Instead, the air force has invested in new Boeing-made wings to keep the A-10 fleet airworthy.
Although the USAF received limited permission to retire a few dozen of its “least-combat-effective” A-10s in 2023, the service is still required to maintain at least 135 of the ageing fighters in active rotation.
With global demand for its high-end fourth- and fifth-generation fighters greater than ever, the air force has begun tasking A-10s with missions in low-threat airspace that may previously have gone to squadrons flying Lockheed Martin F-16 or Boeing F-15 fast-movers.
In October, the Pentagon deployed A-10s from the USAF’s 354th Fighter Squadron to the Middle East as part of a show of force after the 7 October attacks in Israel.
Seeking to further expand the scope of support offered by the type, US Air Force test pilots in April 2023 demonstrated that a single A-10 can carry and deploy 16 Small Diameter Bomb precision munitions, opening a new role for the ground-attack jet as a so-called “bomb truck”.
The USAF hopes such efforts will reduce demand for its more-capable multi-role fighters, including F-15s and F-16s, which it needs for air-interdiction, airspace-defence and general-deterrence missions in Europe, Asia and North America.
See photos of the USS Nebraska transit:
