Combat Search And Rescue

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Ends Five Decades of A-10 Pilot Training as Focus Shifts to F-35

In April 2026, the US Air Force closed the training pipeline that had produced every Fairchild Republic A-10 pilot it ever fielded. The 357th Fighter Squadron graduated its last class of Thunderbolt II students at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in April. That same week, and at that same base, an A-10 flying combat search and rescue escort over Iran took enemy fire, kept flying, and helped bring a downed fighter pilot home before its own pilot was forced to eject over Kuwait.