A-10 Warthog Being Tested With Aerial Refueling Probe Bolted Onto Its Nose
4th April 2026
The A-10 may be in the twilight of its career, but that doesn’t mean it’s done proving new capabilities, some of which could impact the USAF’s larger tactical airpower force. In particular, it just tested one capability we have been highlighting as a huge opportunity and potential necessity for a future fight in the Pacific.
A test A-10, looking like it borrowed its nose from an A-6 Intruder, flew for the first time equipped with a refueling probe in place of its nose-mounted aerial refueling receptacle earlier this week. The program has been ongoing for some time. Within days of that first flight, the test ‘Hog’ successfully plugged into a C-130 equipped with aerial refueling drogues. An image, circulating on social media, shows the A-10 in question connected to a drogue trailing behind a Hercules.
This is very odd, since the A-10 is an Air Force plane and ordinarily uses the boom-and-socket Air Force refueling method. The drogue-and-probe method is used by Navy planes. Perhaps they’re readying the A-10s to refuel from the FA-18 tankers often used by carrier jets.