Davis-Monthan to launch new special operations wing as A-10 retires

This story was updated April 27 at 10:52 a.m. to correct which missions are moving from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona appears poised to trade its stalwart fleet of A-10C “Warthog” attack planes for a new special operations wing.

The move follows years of debate in Washington over the future of the A-10, which the Air Force plans to retire by the end of the decade in favor of more advanced fighter jets. Bringing in a special operations wing would keep jobs at the Tucson installation while taking it in a different direction than the service had planned.

A service spokesperson said Tuesday the Air Force is still “working through the details” of the new organization, which is listed in the service’s fiscal 2024 budget request as the “492nd Power Projection Wing.”

It’s unclear what, precisely, the wing will do. Most wings that fall under Air Force Special Operations Command oversee multiple specialized aircraft — from the AC-130 gunship to the U-28 surveillance plane — that allow troops to move around warzones quietly and quickly, and with the substantial firepower needed to protect ground forces.

Members of Arizona’s congressional delegation raised the prospect of a new “special operations capability” with a flying mission at Davis-Monthan in a public letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall earlier this month.

The bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers — Sen. Mark Kelly and Rep. Ruben Gallego, both Democrats; Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who caucuses with Democrats; and Rep. Juan Ciscomani, a Republican — said they are encouraged by the service’s vision and urged transparency as its work moves forward.

“The Air Force has laid out an ambitious timeline for executing this transition at Davis-Monthan through a series of facility reviews, military construction and incoming flying missions,” the group wrote in its April 6 letter. “Delivering on this five-year plan requires meeting a number of targets that must be consistently met to avoid delays that negatively impact the base and the local economy.”

Davis-Monthan will continue to host the Compass Call electronic attack mission with a slightly smaller fleet of new EC-37B jets , which will replace the 40-year-old EC-130Hs , and the combat search-and-rescue mission using the fixed-wing HC-130J Combat Kings and the new HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter .

Lawmakers said Davis-Monthan will still employ around 11,000 airmen in five years, the same size workforce as it has now, despite changes to its core missions. The Air Force must still work through its official basing process before making any firm decisions to bring new missions to Tucson.

The service’s pivot to establish a new special operations wing at Davis-Monthan indicates it has ditched an earlier plan to move the test and training enterprise for A-10s from Nellis AFB, Nevada, to Arizona. It still expects to move those units for the HH-60 fleet to Arizona.

The service plans to continue downsizing its A-10 fleet from 260 to 218 aircraft by the end of September 2024, with the rest to follow over the next five years. Congress ended its yearslong opposition to retiring the A-10 last December, paving the way for divestment of the venerable close air support platform that has protected ground troops on the front lines of America’s wars for decades.

A-10 retirement is one piece of the Air Force’s broader vision to modernize its inventory with equipment that would be most useful and durable in a potential conflict with China. Critics argue the Warthog would be too vulnerable against advanced surface-to-air missiles and lacks the long-range strike capabilities needed for war in the Pacific.

“The A-10 is a great airplane … in an uncontested environment,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. said in March. “The challenge is, we’re going to be in more contested environments in the future.”

Rachel Cohen is the editor of Air Force Times. She joined the publication as its senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), Air and Space Forces Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy and elsewhere.

4 月 27 日上午 10:52，本文进行了更新，更正了哪些任务将从内华达州内利斯空军基地转移到亚利桑那州戴维斯-蒙森空军基地。

位于亚利桑那州的戴维斯-蒙森空军基地似乎准备用其强大的 A-10C“疣猪”攻击机机队换取一个新的特种作战联队。

此举源于华盛顿多年来围绕A-10未来走向的争论。空军计划在本十年末之前逐步淘汰A-10，转而使用更先进的战斗机。引入特种作战联队将保留图森空军基地的就业岗位，但同时也使其发展方向与空军原先的计划有所不同。

空军发言人周二表示，空军仍在“敲定”新组织的细节，该组织在空军 2024 财年预算申请中被列为“第 492 力量投送联队”。

目前尚不清楚该联队的具体任务是什么。隶属于空军特种作战司令部的大多数联队都负责指挥多种特种飞机——从AC-130炮艇机到U-28侦察机——这些飞机使部队能够在战区内悄无声息、快速机动，并具备保护地面部队所需的强大火力。

本月初，亚利桑那州国会代表团成员在一封致空军部长弗兰克·肯德尔的公开信中提出了在戴维斯-蒙森空军基地开展飞行任务，以建立新的“特种作战能力”的可能性。

由亚利桑那州两党议员组成的团体——民主党参议员马克·凯利和众议员鲁本·加列戈；与民主党人结盟的独立参议员克里斯滕·西内玛；以及共和党众议员胡安·西斯科马尼——表示，他们对该机构的愿景感到鼓舞，并敦促其在推进工作的过程中保持透明。

该组织在4月6日的信中写道：“空军已制定了一项雄心勃勃的时间表，通过一系列设施审查、军事建设和即将到来的飞行任务，在戴维斯-蒙森空军基地完成过渡。要实现这项五年计划，需要达成一系列目标，而且这些目标必须持续达成，以避免延误，从而对基地和当地经济造成负面影响。”

戴维斯-蒙坦空军基地将继续执行“指南针呼叫”电子攻击任务，使用规模稍小的新型 EC-37B 喷气式飞机，以取代服役 40 年的 EC-130H；同时，该基地还将使用固定翼 HC-130J“战斗之王”和新型 HH-60W“快乐绿巨人 II”直升机执行战斗搜救任务。

议员们表示，尽管戴维斯-蒙森空军基地的核心任务有所调整，但五年后该基地仍将雇用约11000名空军人员，与目前规模持平。空军在正式决定将新任务迁至图森之前，仍需完成其官方基地选址流程。

该军种在戴维斯-蒙森空军基地建立新的特种作战联队的举措表明，它已放弃了此前将A-10攻击机的测试和训练工作从内华达州内利斯空军基地迁至亚利桑那州的计划。不过，该军种仍然计划将HH-60直升机的测试和训练部队迁至亚利桑那州。

空军计划在2024年9月底前继续缩减其A-10机队规模，从260架减少到218架，其余飞机将在未来五年内陆续退役。去年12月，国会结束了长达数年的反对A-10退役的立场，为这款久经沙场、为美国前线地面部队提供数十年保护的近距离空中支援平台的退役铺平了道路。

A-10的退役是美国空军更广泛现代化战略的一部分，该战略旨在用最实用、最耐用的装备来更新其装备，以应对与中国的潜在冲突。批评人士认为，A-10“疣猪”攻击机过于脆弱，容易受到先进地对空导弹的攻击，并且缺乏在太平洋战争中所需的远程打击能力。

“A-10是一款很棒的飞机……在非对抗环境下，”空军参谋长查尔斯·“CQ”·布朗将军在3月份表示。“挑战在于，未来我们将面临更多对抗性环境。”

瑞秋·科恩是《空军时报》的编辑。她于2021年3月加入该刊物，担任高级记者。她的作品曾发表在《华盛顿邮报》、《弗雷德里克新闻邮报》（马里兰州）、《空军与太空部队杂志》、《国防内幕》、《卫生政策内幕》等刊物上。