5 Reasons The US Air Force Continues To Operate The A-10 Warthog In 2026

The A-10 Thunderbolt II ‘Warthog’ is the beloved aircraft the Air Force never wanted. It was a project of the Fighter Mafia that existed in the 1960s and 1970s. Also central were Army considerations and the Air Force’s controversial lobbying to cancel the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne attack helicopter that the Army wanted. The Fighter Mafia thought aircraft were getting prohibitively expensive and complicated, and that the Air Force needed to go back to simpler designs.