The Air Force has a 30 year long hate relationship with the A10 Warthog. You see, close air support has simply never been the prestigious pilot assignment for aspiring fighter jocks. The A10 is a jet built around a cannon (literally) and is simply superb and destroying armored columns (remember the highway of death during Gulf War 1?). So, the AIr Farce wants to kill A10s so as to force attention onto the F35, which is expensive and may be a huge flop (recall that MacArthur destroyed Army Horses to allow the tanks to get more attention).
A worthy read.
Two Zeds rating.
I give a big kudos to Martha McSally. She fought hard for her constituents here in southern Arizona, and the fighting men and women on the ground. To tell you the truth many of us locals thought her “fight” for the Wart Hog was all political to gain votes. But she held her ground against the Raytheon lobbyists and the big money spenders in the Airforce. The F-35 is not a good replacement for the A-10. It the unreliable, very expensive new toy of the military powers that be.
I have finally been impressed with McSally and look forward to see what else she will bring to the table.
Tucsonans love Davis Monthan Air Force Base and those beautiful Wart Hogs flying through our sky.
Keep that big ugly brute, it works. The F35 can’t do close air support when it flies around at warp 5.