The Air Force is deploying A-10 jets again to fight the Islamic State in Syria, despite trying to sideline the aircraft in favor of the F-35.
It seems that no matter how much the service wants to do away with the A-10, it still ends up relying on the aircraft’s incredible close-air support capabilities, Defense One reports.
“There are A-10s arriving in Incirlik [Air Base], and I don’t have the exact number…and this was part of a regular rotation that was planned,” said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.
The recent deployment will likely only spur Congress to continue fighting the Air Force’s retirement plans for the aircraft. Recently, GOP Sen. [crscore]Kelly Ayotte[\crscore] led nine other senators in demanding that the Air Force halt its attempts to evade congressional intent and dispose of the A-10. Instead of placing the A-10s on backup status, which Congress agreed to, the service moved 18 A-10s to XJ status. On backup status, aircraft are flown occasionally to maintain readiness. This is not the case on XJ status. (RELATED: Senators Catch Air Force Red-Handed Trying To Sideline The A-10)
With the A-10s headed back to the fight, the Pentagon has coordinated with senior Russian defense officials to sign an air safety agreement Monday. The point of the memorandum of understanding is to avoid “in-flight incidents” between coalition and Russian forces.
Cook was quick to note that the MOU does not entail intelligence sharing, an endorsement of Russia’s military activities in Syria, or the establishment of zones of cooperation.
“We continue to believe that Russia’s strategy in Syria is counterproductive and their support for the Assad regime will only make Syria’s civil war worse,” Cook said at a news conference.
Instead, the MOU is designed to implement air safety protocols and to keep communication airways open.
Communication will likely be necessary, given Russia’s air movements in the last several weeks. Russia has taken criticism for violating Turkish airspace, flying too close to American planes, accidentally firing cruise missiles into Iran and mistakenly hitting civilians. U.S. Air Force pilots have been instructed as of Tuesday not to react to outlandish and aggressive Russian behavior.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that 34 percent of the people killed by Russian airstrikes since Sept. 30 have been civilians.
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