“The A-10 ‘Warthog’ attack aircraft is likely to be protected again by Congress as it marks up the defense budget later this month,” according to The Washington Examiner, even though the Air Force has repeatedly asked “to be allowed to retire the A-10 fleet.”

“The Air Force has argued it needs the estimated $4 billion it would save over the next several years to apply to other, critical priorities, such as surveillance drones and its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It also argued that it needs to phase out the A-10 to free up its ground crews and maintenance personnel to shift them to the F-35, and it has argued that the A-10 can’t handle highly-contested environments for close air support.”