They have be trying to kill the A-10 for at least 20 years.
Closer to 40+ years!!!
Most of that is gone now that SecDef Gates is out. That Obama bootlicker hated the Air Force and set to work killing every USAF program he could. He told USAF that they had to make a choice between the F-35 and A-10. What the hell kind of choice is that? It’s like putting a gun to your head and telling you that you have to choose which arm or leg that you’re going to lose. USAF chose the F-35, how the hell are you going to dump a 5th generation aircraft that you’ve already put 15 years and who knows how much into development costs? There were overtures to have F-35 take over the CAS (close air support) mission but everybody damn well knew that what it really meant was that USAF was abandoning CAS.
What kills me is that Sen. McCain was going into his political grandstanding by screaming at the Air Force that they need to support the A-10. If you want the A-10 to continue in the inventory, rally your buddies in Congress to fund the freakin’ thing, moron. And you might want to call a hearing to have SecDef Gates explain what the hell he’s doing. It’s telling that none of that happened. Sen. McCain loved the opportunity to yell about Republicans in his own party but didn’t give a crap about solving the problem. I’m so glad that Congress fell ass-backwards into making a good decision and funded the A-10, that’s a jet that we still need.