Boeing is the lead contractor for A-10 sustainment and is fulfilling a contract for 173 sets of new wings for the fleet. The company has delivered 105 sets and does not expect that the contract will be canceled even if the Air Force retires the aircraft. The new wing is close to returning the A-10 to zero-time condition. [emphasis added]A new engine "is one of the items on the agenda," The current TF34 is little changed from the original 1970s design and a number of suitable engines in the same thrust class are available. Boeing is also looking at a new targeting pod and a helmet-mounted display system with more integrated functions than today's A-10 offers with the Thales Scorpion.
The modernized A-10 is billed as a "low-cost counterterrorism" system, implying that it is aimed at Middle Eastern customers, which have shown increased interest in affordable attack aircraft since the rise of the ISIS movement. Of the two largest potential customers – the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia – Boeing has the closest relationship with the latter.
Affordable? There goes that lie the fighter mafia was trying to use as an excuse to dump the A-10. I guess if we are stupid enough to get rid of them, someone else will use them. Sounds like they can completely modernize this aircraft on the cheap, and operate inexpensively and effectively for a long time, like the BUFF. Give these to the Army, put them in Fort Rucker if the fighter snobs in the USAF dont want them.