---
title: "The Air Force Flaunted 30 A-10 Warthogs In An Elephant Walk A Day Before DoD Pledged To Save Them"
description: "On May 22, the U.S. Air Force’s largest [A-10C Warthog fighter group]() went out for a stroll."
date: "2017-05-25"
modified: "2017-05-25"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/a-10-warthog-elephant-walk/"
categories:
  - "Air Force"
  - "Aircraft"
  - "Around the World"
  - "Fighter Aircraft"
  - "Military Branches"
  - "News"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "United States"
tags:
  - "Pentagon"
---

# The Air Force Flaunted 30 A-10 Warthogs In An Elephant Walk A Day Before DoD Pledged To Save Them

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/03/19040582-1.jpg>)

On May 22, the U.S. Air Force’s largest [A-10C Warthog fighter group](<https://www.moody.af.mil/About-Us/Units/23d-Wing/>) went out for a stroll.

Military personnel from the "Flying Tigers" 23rd Fighter Group, stationed at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, conducted a surge exercise to show off the Warthog’s capacity to rapidly deploy combat aircraft anywhere on the planet.

While the unit’s parent, the 23rd Wing, boasts an impressive array of aircraft — including the HH-60G Pave Hawks and HC-130J Combat King II aircraft who participated in the exercise — it also possesses more A-10s than any other U.S. air wing. And there’s nothing more beautiful than seeing 30 combat-ready Warthog attack aircraft laid out in an “elephant walk” on a runway, ready to bring the pain:

The elephant walk came just a day before the Pentagon reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the beloved A-10 and its fearsome 30mm cannon flying indefinitely. On May 23, DOD asked Congress to fully fund the 283-Warthog fleet and guarantee the attack craft’s long-term viability.

"The world has changed, so we're trying to maintain capacity and capability," Maj. Gen. James Martin, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for budget, [told reporters](<https://www.defensenews.com/articles/stayin-alive-no-retirement-in-sight-for-the-a-10-and-u-2>) during a briefing, after which a spokeswoman confirmed the A-10’s eventual retirement had been pushed off “indefinitely,” [per Defense News](<https://www.defensenews.com/articles/stayin-alive-no-retirement-in-sight-for-the-a-10-and-u-2>).

While we have no plausible proof that 30 Warthogs rolling down a runway swayed the DoD’s mind regarding the future of the A-10, we’re sure it helped. Maybe not as much as ex-fighter jock and Republican Rep. Martha McSally’s notorious love affair with the Warthog cannon’s trademark *BRRRT!*, but still.

Here’s a timelapse of the Warthogs assembling on the Moody AFB runway, posted on Facebook by the 23rd Wing:

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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