U.S. Senators Mark Pryor and John Boozman, together with Congressmen Rick Crawford (AR-1), Tim Griffin (AR-2), Steve Womack (AR-3), Mike Ross (AR-4), and Congressman-Elect Tom Cotton (AR-4), released the following statement:
“Since February, the Arkansas delegation has repeatedly requested the strategic military analysis, readiness study, and budget analysis that led to the United States Air Force’s (USAF) decision to eliminate the 188th Fighter Wing’s A-10 mission. However, after meeting with USAF officials this week, it became clear that—despite claiming force reductions are driven by budgetary concerns—this analysis does not exist and the decision was instead based on the capstone principle of maintaining one flying mission per state. This is simply unacceptable. The 188th is one of the most cost-efficient A-10 missions, and we are confident that a thorough fiscal analysis would prove its viability. We urge the USAF to complete this analysis as promised and reevaluate its decision based on those results. We as a delegation are committed to doing what is best for our nation from a budgetary and national security standpoint and that means maintaining a flying mission at the 188th.”
