U.S. Air Force's Top General Denies Reports That The F-35 And The A-10 Are Going To Square Off In Close Air-Support Tests

A-10 Warthogs fly in formation. Business Insider

DoD Buzz: Welsh Dismisses F-35, A-10 CAS Contest as ‘Silly Exercise’

The U.S. Air Force’s top military man rejected the idea of comparing how the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet and the Cold War-era A-10 Warthog attack plane perform in close air support tests.

During a conference last week in Arlington, Virginia, Curt Cook, an air warfare specialist for the Pentagon’s office of the director of operational test and evaluation, called for the so-called comparative tests in late 2017 or 2018 to evaluate how often the stealthy fifth-generation fighter’s weapons hit desired targets or how long it takes the aircraft to pass information to ground troops.

During a State of the Air Force briefing Monday at the Pentagon, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh dismissed the idea.

WNU Editor: If the U.S. Air Force brass were confident that the F-35 would outperform the A-10 in close air support .... they would have permitted these tests and use the results to defuse the political pressure that is on them to retain the A-10. They are clearly not that confident .... and it is amazing to see how quickly the Air Force chiefs reacted when the original report that the U.S. Air Force was planning to conduct these tests first came out .... F-35 and A-10 to Square off in Close Air Support Tests (DoD Buzz).

Update: Amid all of this controversy and under the radar .... some in the Pentagon are still hedging their bets that the F-35 may not perform as advertised when it comes to close air support .... Amid Pressure To Keep A-10 Alive, USAF Explores Close-Air Support's Future (Defense News).