USAF Thunderbolt II operational deployments will be becoming rare

Recently, US Defence Secretary Hegseth announced the reinforcement of US military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes.

At the beginning of April 2025, a dozen ID and KC coded A-10C Thunderbolt IIs were seen transiting Pease/Portsmouth International Airport (NH) towards Lajes on the Azores before moving to the Middle East.

As more A-10s are now gradually taken out of service and placed in storage with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB near Tucson (AZ)  operational deployments will be becoming rare. Scramble published earlier on the retirement of A-10 squadrons: see 1*, 2* and 3*.

The recent deployment to Muwaffaq Salti/Al Azraq Air Base (Jordan) consists of Idaho Air National Guard's 190th Fighter Squadron/124th Fighter Wing and Air Force Reserve Command's 303rd Fighter Squadron/442nd Fighter Wing. It is expected that both the 190th Fighter Squadron "Skullbangers" and 303rd Fighter Squadron "KC Hawgs" will lose their A-10s, ceasing Thunderbolt operations, before 2027.

The 190th Fighter Squadron at Gowen Field/Air National Guard Base (ID), is expected to transition to the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon once its A-10Cs retire, beginning fall 2026. However, the 303rd Fighter Squadron's Thunderbolt II, based at Whiteman AFB (MO), is set to retire in 2027. For now, the squadron at Whiteman faces an uncertain future. So far, the USAF has not identified a follow-on mission for this unit.

The following A-10Cs are now deployed to the Middle East:

Credit photos: Dave O' Brien Photography (https://www.topgunphotography.net/)

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