In March 2026, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said A-10 Warthog… · @pirrer · TwKit

@pirrer

In March 2026, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said A-10 Warthogs were flying maritime interdiction missions around the Strait of Hormuz. Their targets were the fast attack boats of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The jet was designed in the 1970s to stop Soviet tanks in Europe, and the U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) has tried to retire it since 2014. Iran's fast attack boats are small, fast, and numerous, and can swarm together to harass tankers. Expensive missiles don't make economic sense against them, and fast fighters have a hard time keeping watch over the water for long. The A-10 flies slowly and can stay over the strait for long stretches. Its tank-killer reputation is more complicated. After Desert Storm, A-10 units were credited with 987 tanks. A 1997 GAO assessment found that Air Force analysts counted one tank for every three that A-10 pilots claimed, and that at least a third of A-10 strike results couldn't be determined from the records. Against armor, the A-10 relied mainly on Maverick missiles, firing about 4,800 of them. In April 2026, after an F-15E was shot down, A-10s flew into Iran in the Sandy role, protecting the downed crew and coordinating the rescue. Both crew members were rescued. One A-10 was hit, and the pilot ejected over Kuwait. It is the only A-10 the U.S. has publicly confirmed losing in flight in this war. On April 20, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said three A-10 squadrons would remain in service until 2030 at the latest. Under the plan at the time, about 36 aircraft would fly into 2030 and then retire, nearly 60 years after the A-10's first flight.

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