The last Nellis AFB A-10 assigned to the Nevada installation departed on September 22, closing nearly 50 years of Warthog operations, tactics development, and testing at the U.S. Air Force’s premier fighter base. The milestone underscores a broader transition in which close air support expertise and related roles are being folded into F-15, F-16, and F-35 communities, a move that remains contentious among airpower specialists.
Nearly 70 airmen assembled along the flight line to render honors as the A-10 Thunderbolt II took off for the final time from Nellis. The first A-10 arrived there in 1977, and the base subsequently became a hub for refining how the aircraft was employed in combat.
Over the decades, units at Nellis advanced the A-10’s software, avionics, and precision weapons integration. The U.S. Air Force Weapons School’s 66th Weapons Squadron graduated more than 300 A-10 weapons officers across roughly 100 classes, and many of the platform’s hallmark tactics originated at the base.
The aircraft’s departure marks more than the loss of another airframe on a Nellis ramp. It brings an end to a specialized training and institutional ecosystem built around a jet purpose-designed for close air support.
Nellis AFB A-10 expertise shifts to multirole fighters
According to unit leadership, the Air Force is working to transfer portions of that knowledge into a force centered on fourth- and fifth-generation multirole fighters.
“We are maintaining the culture of the A-10 by involving as many other fighter communities involved in the close air support mission,” Lt. Col. Ridge Flick, commander of the 66th Weapons Squadron, said. “We are also training F-15 Eagle, F-35 Lightning II and F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots to take on some roles we have had in combat search and rescue.”
The A-10 was engineered specifically for close air support, with survivability at low altitude, ground-attack weapons employment, and persistence near friendly forces as core attributes. The F-16C/D and F-15E/EX were designed primarily as multirole fighters, while the F-35 pairs strike and air-to-air capabilities with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and networking, wrapped in a low-observable airframe.
Rather than naming a single successor, the Air Force is distributing elements of the A-10 mission across multiple aircraft and communities. The service maintains that its close air support capacity will not diminish as the Warthog retires, though the shift represents a substantial change in how that capability is generated and used.
Even so, critics question whether dispersing the A-10 community’s concentrated knowledge, including the close air support and “Sandy” combat search and rescue roles, can avoid a decline in proficiency. Skeptics argue the loss of that brain trust could prove more consequential than the retirement of the airframe itself, despite stated plans to preserve the expertise.
Ending A-10 operations at Nellis also makes any reconstitution of those activities unlikely due to the cost and complexity, signaling the Warthog’s steady glide toward retirement.
The transition is reshaping maintenance assignments as well. Airmen from the 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s Thunder Aircraft Maintenance Unit are moving to other squadrons and airframes, including F-35s and F-16s, taking with them decades of experience sustaining an aging, structurally demanding platform and applying it to newer fighters.
For Staff Sgt. Eva Kehn, a weapons load crew chief with the 757th AMXS, the end of the A-10 chapter carries a personal note tied to her family’s aviation ties. She is transferring to an F-35 unit at Nellis, where her grandfather now serves as a civilian F-35 instructor, allowing them to remain professionally connected even as the Warthog leaves the base.
Master Sgt. Aaron Edmonds, an aircraft section chief with the 757th AMXS who spent five years on the A-10 and previously worked on the F-16, is returning to the Viper community. He described the moment as bittersweet and encouraged airmen shifting to new airframes to stay open-minded and bring forward the work ethic and lessons learned on previous jets.
As A-10 personnel and practices migrate, other fighter types will contribute to close air support in different ways. The F-35 can leverage sensors and data links to develop and share targeting and battlespace awareness, while penetrating air defenses that limit other fighters.
Depending on the mission, F-15s can bring heavier ordnance and greater endurance. Although various aircraft delivered close air support during the Global War on Terror era, the A-10 community long centered the airborne forward air control mission.
The new construct will differ markedly from the Warthog-centric force, even as the requirement to support troops on the ground endures.
The retirement of the A-10 is accelerating despite repeated efforts to keep the fleet in service and its recent combat use in the Middle East. Three squadrons have been authorized to continue operating through 2030, and lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill in July that would require the Air Force to fly the jets through Fiscal Year 2033 if enacted.
Nonetheless, more aircraft are heading to storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona, including the last jet from Nellis.
As the Warthog draws down, the Air Force is fundamentally changing how it organizes and executes missions the A-10 made synonymous. Nellis will remain central to advancing those capabilities, even as the aircraft that shaped them exits the flight line.
The F-35 can leverage sensors and data links to develop and share targeting and battlespace awareness, while penetrating air defenses that limit other fighters. Depending on the mission, F-15s can bring heavier ordnance and greater endurance.
Although various aircraft delivered close air support during the Global War on Terror era, the A-10 community long centered the airborne forward air control mission. The new construct will differ markedly from the Warthog-centric force, even as the requirement to support troops on the ground endures.
The retirement of the A-10 is accelerating despite repeated efforts to keep the fleet in service and its recent combat use in the Middle East. Three squadrons have been authorized to continue operating through 2030, and lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill in July that would require the Air Force to fly the jets through Fiscal Year 2033 if enacted.
Nonetheless, more aircraft are heading to storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona, including the last jet from Nellis.
As the Warthog draws down, the Air Force is fundamentally changing how it organizes and executes missions the A-10 made synonymous. Nellis will remain central to advancing those capabilities, even as the aircraft that shaped them exits the flight line.