As the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft (better known as the “Warthog”) is being phased out of U.S. Air Force service, increasing numbers of airframes are finding their way into storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The USAF relegated 39 of the popular A-10s to Davis-Monthan in 2024—more than double the number re-assigned to the base’s 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) the previous year.
According to a post on the website The War Zone, USAF plans call for the twin-engine A-10 to be completely phased out of service by the end of this decade, if not sooner. According to the War Zone report, as of September 2024, there were a total of 157 A-10As and -Cs in mothballs at Davis-Monthan, “many of which are in non-flyable condition.” It’s unclear how many more Warthogs have been delivered to the Arizona base since then.
USAF A-10s continue to be assigned to combat missions, including recent assignments in the Middle East in anticipation of further escalation of tension between Israel, Iran and other adversaries. In addition, there has been talk of Warthogs serving with U.S. allies’ air arms, including Ukraine and Jordan.
