{"id":23842133,"date":"2026-09-21T12:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/a-10-weapons-school-closes-66th-weapons-squadron-final-sortie-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:52:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:52:51","slug":"a-10-weapons-school-closes-66th-weapons-squadron-final-sortie-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/a-10-weapons-school-closes-66th-weapons-squadron-final-sortie-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"A-10 Weapons School Closes While the Warthog Flies to 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>On 18 August 2026 a single <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/a-10-warthog\/\">A-10C Thunderbolt II<\/a> took off from Nellis Air Force Base, flew a training mission over the Nevada Test and Training Range, and landed. Nothing about the sortie was unusual except everything about it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The aircraft was 82-0665, the last A-10 ever built, delivered on 20 March 1984. The pilot was Lt. Col. Ridge Flick, commander of the 66th Weapons Squadron. And it was the final training flight of the United States Air Force Weapons School\u2019s A-10 course, ending a graduate-level instructor pipeline that had run at Nellis since 1977.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Four months earlier, in April 2026, the Air Force had announced it was extending the A-10 to 2030. Both of those things are true at the same time, and that is the actual story here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:15px 20px;margin:20px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Final sortie:<\/strong> 18 August 2026, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada<\/li><li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> A-10C 82-0665, the last of 716 built, delivered 20 March 1984<\/li><li><strong>Pilot:<\/strong> Lt. Col. Ridge Flick, commander, 66th Weapons Squadron<\/li><li><strong>Course:<\/strong> Six-month Weapons Instructor Course, run at Nellis since 1977<\/li><li><strong>Fleet plan:<\/strong> 54 aircraft in three squadrons through 2029, falling to 36 in two squadrons through 2030<\/li><li><strong>Already closed:<\/strong> Depot overhaul at Hill AFB (February 2026), pilot training at Davis-Monthan (March 2026), TF34 engine builds (May 2026)<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the 66th Weapons Squadron Actually Did<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Weapons School is not where you learn to fly the aeroplane. It is where the people who will teach everyone else learn to be authorities on it. The 66th ran a six-month course whose climax was the mission employment phase, a two-week staged battle across the Nevada Test and Training Range. Graduates go back to their units as weapons and tactics officers, advising commanders and operations officers on how the aircraft is actually employed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>For the A-10 that meant close air support, forward air control, combat search and rescue and, latterly, counter-maritime work. It is a narrow, unglamorous and extremely specific body of knowledge, and the squadron was where it lived.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;How to be an expert in your aircraft.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Maj. Alex Boules<\/strong> &mdash; A-10 instructor pilot, 66th Weapons Squadron<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The squadron itself has an odd, doubled history with the type: it flew A-10s in the Weapons School role from 1977 to 1981, was reactivated as the 66th Weapons Squadron in February 2003 to replace the school\u2019s A-10 division, and has flown them ever since. The lineage goes back further still, to a unit that flew P-40s and P-47s in the Second World War and F-105s and F-4s on Wild Weasel training in the Vietnam era.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/66th-weapons-squadron-a-10c-gau-8-close-up.jpg\" alt=\"A 66th Weapons Squadron A-10C photographed head-on, the GAU-8 muzzle and squadron badge visible\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A 66th Weapons Squadron A-10C. The squadron ran the Air Force\u2019s graduate-level Warthog course. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Air Force\u2019s own wording for what ended on 18 August was careful and flat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The flight closed a chapter of providing graduate-level training in advanced close air support with the U.S. Air Weapons School.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>US Air Force statement<\/strong> &mdash; On the final Weapons School A-10 sortie, August 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VNVfKEpYfbw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">One Correction Before We Go Further<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The version of this story circulating on social media says the Air Force is still flying three A-10 squadrons through 2030. That is not quite what was decided, and the difference matters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The April 2026 decision extended three squadrons, each holding 18 aircraft &mdash; 54 jets in total &mdash; through 2029. From 2030 the fleet drops to 36 aircraft in two squadrons: one active-duty unit at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia and one Air Force Reserve squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. So it is three through 2029 and two through 2030, not three through 2030.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Congress may yet move the line again. Representative Abe Hamadeh\u2019s BRRRRT Act would require the Air Force to keep 126 A-10s flying through fiscal 2033, and the House-passed fiscal 2027 defence bill would oblige the service to retain enough training, depot and logistics capacity to support the fleet through 2030. Neither is law. The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act had originally mandated full retirement by 2029.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Everything Needed to Operate an A-10 Has Already Been Shut Down<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Here is the part that does not fit on an Instagram card. The Air Force extended the A-10\u2019s service life in April 2026. By then it had already begun dismantling the machinery that keeps A-10s flying, and it carried on afterwards.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In February 2026, Hill Air Force Base completed its final A-10 depot overhaul. The 571st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, which had done structural repairs, wing replacements and major overhauls on the type since 1998, began preparing to deactivate. In March 2026, Davis-Monthan graduated its last class of newly qualified A-10 pilots, ending dedicated ab initio training on the aircraft. In May 2026, maintainers there completed the final TF34 engine build.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Depot in February. Extension in April. Pilot school in March. Engine line in May. Weapons School in August. The decision to keep the aeroplane arrived in the middle of the sequence that removed the ability to support it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/a-10-davis-monthan-dm-tail-code-approach.jpg\" alt=\"An A-10 wearing the Davis-Monthan DM tail code on approach with gear down\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Davis-Monthan, which trained A-10 pilots for decades, graduated its last new Warthog pilots in March 2026. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #c62828;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;An aircraft does not remain combat-ready because its retirement date moved on a spreadsheet.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>19FortyFive<\/strong> &mdash; Analysis of the A-10 extension, July 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The remaining fleet will be sustained substantially by cannibalising airframes that have already been retired. That works, for a while. It also means every jet sent to the boneyard props up the ones still flying while shrinking the pool available for training, testing, attrition replacement and whatever the Air Force does not see coming.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the A-10 Got a Reprieve at All<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The extension was not sentiment. It was Iran.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A-10s flew close air support during Operation Epic Fury, worked maritime targets in the Strait of Hormuz, and took part in the combat search and rescue mission that recovered two downed <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-15e-strike-eagle\/\">F-15E<\/a> crew. An aircraft that the Air Force had spent a decade trying to retire turned out to be the one doing jobs nobody else was available to do.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #ef6c00;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;This preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>US Air Force<\/strong> &mdash; On extending the A-10 fleet, April 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Read that carefully. It is not a statement about the A-10 being good. It is a statement about there not being enough other aircraft yet &mdash; which is also why the Air Force fighter inventory has been sitting below the congressionally mandated minimum.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/op1XjJzZWvo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What Actually Ended on 18 August<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Not the A-10. Three squadrons are still flying it, and will be for years. What ended is the production of the people who know the aircraft best.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A weapons officer is not a pilot who is good at the jet. It is the person a squadron commander turns to when the tactics question is genuinely hard, and the Air Force has now stopped making new ones for the A-10. The ones already out there keep their expertise, and then they get promoted, or they move to another airframe, or they leave. Nobody replaces them. The fleet has a fixed number of real experts left and a declining curve.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That is the thing worth noticing about all four closures together. The depot, the pilot school, the engine line and the Weapons School are not four sad milestones. They are the same decision, executed in stages, and the 2030 extension was bolted on top of it without undoing any of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"display:flex;flex-direction:column;align-items:center;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Ddc1XMUDD6q\/embed\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;background:#fff\"><\/iframe><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The post that brought the final sortie to a wider audience, a month after it happened.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>One small note on timing, since it confuses people. The flight was on 18 August. The story only travelled in mid-September, which is why a month-old event has been showing up in feeds as breaking news.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:28px\">Sources: The Aviationist; The War Zone (TWZ); Air Force Times and Military Times; 19FortyFive; laststandonzombieisland; Wikipedia entry for the 66th Weapons Squadron<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>When did the A-10 Weapons School fly its final sortie?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 18 August 2026 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The 66th Weapons Squadron flew the last training mission of the US Air Force Weapons School A-10 course, ending a graduate-level instructor pipeline that had run at Nellis since 1977. The story circulated widely only in mid-September 2026.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which A-10 flew the final Weapons School sortie?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A-10C serial 82-0665, the last of 716 A-10s ever built, delivered on 20 March 1984. It was flown by Lt. Col. Ridge Flick, commander of the 66th Weapons Squadron, making it the last aircraft off the production line flying the last mission of the course.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many A-10 squadrons are left and until when?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Three squadrons of 18 aircraft each, 54 in total, are funded through 2029. From 2030 the fleet drops to 36 aircraft in two squadrons: one active-duty unit at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, and one Air Force Reserve squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Claims of three squadrons through 2030 are inaccurate.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did the Air Force extend the A-10 to 2030?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Because of combat demand in the Middle East. A-10s flew close air support in Operation Epic Fury in Iran, worked maritime targets in the Strait of Hormuz, and supported the recovery of two downed F-15E crew. The Air Force said the extension preserves combat power while the defence industrial base increases aircraft production.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What A-10 support infrastructure has already closed?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Hill Air Force Base completed its final A-10 depot overhaul in February 2026 and the 571st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron began deactivating. Davis-Monthan graduated its last new A-10 pilots in March 2026 and completed the final TF34 engine build in May 2026. The Weapons School course ended in August 2026.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How will the remaining A-10s be kept flying without a depot?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Largely by cannibalising airframes that have already been retired to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan. That supplies parts to the surviving jets but shrinks the pool available for training, testing, attrition replacement and surge demand, and it is not a substitute for depot-level structural work such as wing replacement.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Could Congress extend the A-10 again?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Possibly. Representative Abe Hamadeh has proposed the BRRRRT Act, which would require the Air Force to keep 126 A-10s flying through fiscal 2033, and the House-passed fiscal 2027 defence bill would require the service to retain training, depot and logistics capacity through 2030. Neither has become law.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When did the A-10 Weapons School fly its final sortie?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On 18 August 2026 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The 66th Weapons Squadron flew the last training mission of the US Air Force Weapons School A-10 course, ending a graduate-level instructor pipeline that had run at Nellis since 1977. The story circulated widely only in mid-September 2026.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which A-10 flew the final Weapons School sortie?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A-10C serial 82-0665, the last of 716 A-10s ever built, delivered on 20 March 1984. It was flown by Lt. Col. 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That supplies parts to the surviving jets but shrinks the pool available for training, testing, attrition replacement and surge demand, and it is not a substitute for depot-level structural work such as wing replacement.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Could Congress extend the A-10 again?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Possibly. Representative Abe Hamadeh has proposed the BRRRRT Act, which would require the Air Force to keep 126 A-10s flying through fiscal 2033, and the House-passed fiscal 2027 defence bill would require the service to retain training, depot and logistics capacity through 2030. Neither has become law.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/a-10-warthog-final-range-day-davis-monthan-2026\/\">A-10 Range Day: The Warthog\u2019s Last Public Gun Runs<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/a-10-warthog-saved-extended-2030-iran\/\">The A-10 Warthog Is Saved Again, Extended to 2030<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/brrrrt-act-a-10-warthog-congress-hamadeh-2026\/\">The BRRRRT Act: Congress Moves to Keep the Warthog<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/kim-campbell-killer-chick-a-10-baghdad-2003\/\">Kim Campbell: Killer Chick and the A-10 That Flew Home From Baghdad<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last A-10 ever built flew the last Weapons School sortie on 18 August. Four months earlier the Air Force extended the Warthog to 2030 &#8211; after closing its depot, its pilot school and its engine line.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":23841745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23842133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A-10 Weapons School Closes at Nellis | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The last A-10 ever built flew the final Weapons School sortie on 18 August 2026, months after the Air Force extended the Warthog to 2030.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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