In the case of the A-7, the USAF was initially reluctant to take on yet another Navy-designed aircraft, but on 5 November 1965, Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown and Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General John P. McConnell, announced that USAF had decided to order a version of the aircraft, designated A-7D, for TAC. The first A-7D made its initial flight in April 1968, and deliveries of production models began in December 1968. When A-7D production ended in 1976, LTV had delivered 459 to the U.S. Air Force. These aircraft continued in TAC service until supplanted by F-16 Fighting Falcon or A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. Most A-7Ds and all A-7Ks were later transferred to Air National Guard (ANG) units operationally-gained by TAC, remaining in ANG service until 1993 when they, too, were replaced by the F-16 or A-10.