The U.S. Air Force’s 571st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron has concluded an effort to replace the wings of a certain close air support aircraft. The group installed 162 wing pairs on A-10 Thunderbolt II units at Hill Air Force Base for the A-10 Enhanced Wing Assembly replacement program’s final wave, Hill AFB said Saturday.
South Korea’s Osan Air Base installed the remaining 11 pairs, for a total of 173 under the program. The final installations end a program that began in 2011. The squadron had to use new fuselage parts and worked with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group to gather other A-10 components.
“At the end of the program, making sure we had all the pieces and parts that we needed to make that happen required a really significant team effort,†said Stephen Zaiser, 571st AXMS director.
Boeing provides the replacement wings for the program under a $1.1B contract. The Air Force aims to keep the aircraft operational through the late 2030s, with new wings designed to function for up to 10K flight hours.
