“I will continue to champion Moody AFB and its future as a home for U.S. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, said in a release Monday. “This is a major step forward in our ongoing effort to strengthen and sustain Moody Air Force Base for decades to come,” Sen. Georgia lawmakers hailed the decision as a long-term investment in the region’s military community as the country’s priorities change. Critics say the A-10 can perform the close air support mission far better than the F-35, which was designed as the high-tech “quarterback” of the battlefield rather than to hunt convoys. The service argues that the Warthog fleet must be retired because it is ill-equipped to face off against advanced air defenses, stealth jets and the vast distances of the Pacific. The Air Force’s plan to swap A-10s for F-35s at Moody is emblematic of the Pentagon’s pivot from its longtime War on Terror to instead focus on military competition with China. invasion and trained Afghan pilots on the A-29 Super Tucano ground attack aircraft to build the country’s fledgling air force. Moody airmen also flew search-and-rescue missions in Afghanistan since the early days of the U.S. For almost two decades, the base’s A-10s watched over ground troops and strafed enemy forces with the Warthog’s iconic, armor-piercing 30mm gun. Winding down much of America’s combat operations overseas has prompted a significant shift in Moody’s missions at home.
