The Air Force on Friday announced it would be inspecting some 130 A-10 Warthogs following “an increase in fatigue-related wing cracks.” The action affects A-10s with thin-skin wings assigned to Air Combat Command, Air Force Materiel Command, Pacific Air Forces, the Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command. The service has a program in place to replace the thin-skin wings installed during original manufacture, but the announcement said, “Taking immediate action is necessary for the safety of our aircrews and to bring our A-10 fleet back to health.” The service plans to place “priority focus” on those aircraft currently in Southwest Asia.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
