“Sooooo, the same idiocy, repeated twenty years on.”
Correct but you are off by about twenty years. I was with Fairchild, although in another division, when the aircraft was being developed (early 1970s). The Air Force actually forced a fly-off against the A-7. They just couldn’t stand the thought of adding a ‘slow’ aircraft to their inventory. They even tried to rig the results in favor of speed. Luckily the Army horned in and insisted that battlefield support actually be the measuring stick.
Another interesting fact - bad weather operations. The West Germans wanted 1002-1500 to stop a rapid invasion by the Russians, but the crummy weather concerned them. Fairchild built a two seat version especially for night and bad weather operations. I believe it is still parked in a desert bone yard.
The Germans loved it and all was a go until America made its first major mistake of the 20th Century. Peanut Carter was elected and decided that “America should stop being the arms dealer for the world.” Told the Germans ‘no’ and actually reduced the US order (if memory serves me correct, something like 2000 down to 1200).
Considering how many fools have tried to kill the A-10, it’s kind of a miracle it has survived this long!
That 2 seater is parked in front of the AFFTC museum at Edwards AFB...I drive past it 2x a day...
This marks about the third or fourth time they have used the same argument of “a fighter is better”.
The last one was around the time of Desert Storm.