While the Air Force had wanted to retire the vaunted "Warthog" next year and had already started closing units, Congress has other ideas. 

The closest thing to a gun with wings, the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (or simply "Warthog" to its admirers) first flew over 50 years ago, and the last one rolled off the assembly line in 1984, the same year – perhaps ironically – the Terminator franchise began.  

While over 700 aircraft were produced, by 2024, just 170 A-10Cs were still in Air Force and Air National Guard inventory, with the Pentagon looking to "divest to invest" the vaunted tank killer and close air support aircraft to free up maintenance funds for new production aircraft such as the F-35. To those means, the USAF this year inactivated the 924th Fighter Group and the 40th Flight Test Squadron’s Detachment 1, ending further developmental testing on the platform.
 

Related: Avenger! Getting a Close-Up on the A-10's 30mm Brrrt Gun

However, both the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act defense policy spending bill for 2026 call for the Air Force to maintain 162 A-10s and gradually reduce their numbers to no less than 103 by September 2026, with a zero-out date no sooner than 2029. 

Air & Space Forces Magazine reports the service had argued in its budget request to Congress that axing the Warthog altogether in 2026 would save an estimated $423 million in operations and maintenance costs. 

However, to the grunt on the ground in need, that sweet, sweet "brrrt" sound is priceless.