It's official: no more A-10 Warthogs based in Europe...

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/ ... 0-021612w/

Spangdahlem A-10 squadron to shut down

Posted : Thursday Feb 16, 2012 16:03:48 EST

The Air Force will lose an A-10 squadron in Germany as well as an air control squadron in Italy as part of proposed budget cuts in fiscal 2013, a senior defense official said Thursday.

The 81st Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, would be inactivated under the Air Force’s plan, eliminating 20 A-10s and 525 airmen’s positions. The 603rd Air Control Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy, would also be cut along with 336 positions.

[warthog64]

Bad , very bad news......

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[michel N]

So will they leave before fiscal year 2013 starts (october 2012), or is there a chance they will be gone before october?

regards,

Michel

[jp 74]

==censored==.....

[Gast]

Spangdahlem closure would be very logical. So how many unit(s) remain?

[evhest]

Just a matter of time...

[andel]

Why would it be logical ??.
How many F-16,s are based at Aviano ??.

[Robert]

Even though the Panthers have been identified as the overseas A-10 squadron to be retired, Col. Chris Weggeman, 52nd Fighter Wing commander, says the future of Spangdahlem AB still remains bright.

"As a service, we've been opening and closing squadrons for more than 60 years in response to the demands of time, and our base has weathered these storms along the way," he said.

From af.mil

[Le Addeur noir]

Even though the Panthers have been identified as the overseas A-10 squadron to be retired, Col. Chris Weggeman, 52nd Fighter Wing commander, says the future of Spangdahlem AB still remains bright.

"As a service, we've been opening and closing squadrons for more than 60 years in response to the demands of time, and our base has weathered these storms along the way," he said.

From af.mil

The base commander of Spangdahlem is hardly going to speculate on the closure of his own base.Hahn,Bitburg,Zweibrucken and Sembach are all history and out of the 3 USAFE fighter bases,Aviano,Lakenheath and Spangdahlem,one and possibly two are likely to close within the next 10 years unless Putin starts a new cold war.

[ETURSPOTTER]

Sad verry sad news, i think its the beginning of the closure of Spangdahlem.

[maurits]

Sad verry sad news, i think its the beginning of the closure of Spangdahlem.

I don't think so, there are still construction activities at the main gate (North west site) A big AMC-ramp was realized a few years ago, as well lot of new buildings. In my opinion Spang should not be closed in the next future.

Regards,

Maurits

[Paul van der Linden]

Sad verry sad news, i think its the beginning of the closure of Spangdahlem.

I don't think so, there are still construction activities at the main gate (North west site) A big AMC-ramp was realized a few years ago, as well lot of new buildings. In my opinion Spang should not be closed in the next future.

Regards,

Maurits

It may seem unlogical but with the winding down of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the upcoming years Ramstein already has become fairly quiet over the past year or two so there appears to be no need to retain Spangdahlem for AMC traffic.

On the other hand they might have an interest in retaining Spangdahlem for strategic purposes for any contingency operations in the future when additional AMC space is needed. In that case it would seem unlogical to leave Spangdahlem with any flying units. Aviano has been a strategic hub on several occasions in that period for operations in the Balkan and recently in North Africa so it would seem a logical choice to retain Aviano.

More bizar base closures have happened over the past two decades both in Europe and abroad so I guess we just have to wait and see what is going to happen. I don't think that recent investments are a big issue for the decision makers when it comes to budget cuts. Look at the retirement of the C-27J and the Global Hawk (yesssss.... Nobody knows.

Greetings, Paul

[evhest]

I don't think so, there are still construction activities at the main gate (North west site) A big AMC-ramp was realized a few years ago, as well lot of new buildings. In my opinion Spang should not be closed in the next future.

Regards,

Maurits

The construction activities are foremost a way to spend the available budget and not so much a way to fulfill a - maybe non-excistent - operational requirement. In other words; what we saw these last few years at SP was just money being thrown away.

[Paul van der Linden]

I don't think so, there are still construction activities at the main gate (North west site) A big AMC-ramp was realized a few years ago, as well lot of new buildings. In my opinion Spang should not be closed in the next future.

Regards,

Maurits

The construction activities are foremost a way to spend the available budget and not so much a way to fulfill a - maybe non-excistent - operational requirement. In other words; what we saw these last few years at SP was just money being thrown away.

Spangdahlem was turned into an AMC hub to compensate for the loss of Frankfurt. But I always wonder why if you see the enormous amount of ramp space at Ramstein nowadays.

What does'nt help is that the USAF rerouted its AMC traffic via southern Europe during the vulcano ash problems two years ago and that went pretty well. I remember that as a result some reports that questions were asked if they needed the AMC hubs in Germany at all.

Greetings, Paul

[K-9]

A bit off-topic.
But for Ramstein, yes traffic has decreased a bit past years.
However you still need to be lucky, i've been there last year with days we had constant movements from 09.00 till 17.00. I've been there with almost non movements during that same time.
Guess it all depends on movements of new / old troops ...

Only place that in my opinion has certainly seen it's movements decease for sure is Spangdahlem.

Ramstein remains strategically located, for europe and abroad.


Time will tell ...