City Government
A-10 Quietly Remains On Guard
January 14, 2016 
An article in yesterday’s edition of AIR FORCE TIMES claims the top guns in the military have put retirement of the A-10 Warthog air-to-ground attack fighter on hold.
That should come as good news to folks living near Gowen Field who have been fighting local and federal politicos to keep the noisy F-35 and F-15 over at Mountain Home in the desert instead of in the most densely populated area in the state of Idaho.
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© 2016 Boise Guardian. 
Jan 14, 2016, 10:10 am
Their new mission is big too. Cyber-warriors http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/01/13/idaho-air-national-guard-help-efforts-computer-hackers.html
Jan 14, 2016, 11:30 am
There’s nothing like the A-10 for close air support. It’s a proven concept.
What A-10 needs now is a complete refit to give it up to date situational awareness. The modern avionics in craft like F-35 are small and modular, thus could easily be installed in any aircraft. All that need to happen is the overcoming of large egos and large lobby efforts.
There is no doubt about the effectiveness and economics of A-10. The only thing it can’t do is stealth, which is not needed after the first few days of radar suppression… in fact stealth is so not important after the first few days, in our current wars of attrition, cargo planes (C-130) have been fitted out with ground attack weapons.
Jan 15, 2016, 9:50 am
No doubt the mayor will proclaim it is all due to his relationship with his hero Pres O.
Jan 15, 2016, 1:17 pm
Funny Jack!
The image of Bieter wetting his pants and acting like a 3 year old on Christmas morning during Dear Leaders visit is burned into my brain forever!
I’m thinking we should work on a new ‘Geneva Convention’ type global agreement for how to conduct war. Here’s my idea…
The only fighters will be top government officials, with the Predident, or King leading the troops into battle. All combatants will be naked and without shoes, armed only with a pool noodle. All televised real time of course.
This plan would save us a fortune. We could eliminate hunger, homelessness and poverty, while giving everyone a free education and free health care.
Jan 15, 2016, 1:52 pm
When I first heard about the A10’s being Military surplus (about five years ago)my first thought was WHY??
The A-10 is the only close in combat, low level Aircraft slow enough to protect ground personnel and fast enough to get to the action. Other than helicopters (which have a different mission role)the Military does not have a suitable replacement. It’s neighbor hood friendly. Don’t replace, update.
Jan 15, 2016, 3:06 pm
Good news! The A-10 is a successful program. It actually works as designed. It’s also quiet. The F35 will either bust your eardrums (when it actually flies) or it will rob your wallet while it sits in a hanger being repaired at hours and hours on end. Don’t need it. F15s and F16s can go AFTI/CCV with whatever mods they need to be viable into the future.
Jan 22, 2016, 12:25 pm
Airport noise can make for a really good campaign issue for someone to clobber an incumbent with… only need a few thousand votes to win. F-35 might still come to Boise even with the A-10 reprieve. At this time the A-10 will be in the AF inventory a bit longer, but Gowen could still lose the aircraft because the AF likes to switch things up every few years to get rid of the deadwood in the officer ranks. Point is, it’s very important that this valley settle this noise/basing issue now so our next aircraft is a quiet one. Truly amazing that Mr. liberal environmentalist Bieter wants an F-35 base. What say you county commissioners?
Jan 23, 2016, 8:02 am
Let’s face the facts; Politicians (who don’t live in the airport vicinity) are trying to woo the military and Boise residents to base F-15 and F-35 aircraft here claiming a huge monetary benefit to the community. What they are not telling people is how much it will cost taxpayers to do this. Boise and ADA county will no longer be the wonderful place it is today. There is another salutation.