The fiscal year 2015 conferenced defense authorization bill would allow the deactivation of some A-10s if the Defense Department proves that not doing so would significantly delay the planned fielding of F-35s. The defense secretary would be able to move up to 36 A-10s in the active component to backup flying status and make conforming personnel adjustments for the rest of FY ’15 if it shows that not putting the A-10s on backup status would impact the F-35 fleet. The…