airframe which is obsolete but which is so darn good at it's job that you just can't afford to get rid of it.
and Thank You, For your service to the country.
why the line was shut down is for you all to take up with your congresscritter....they killed it 15 years ago..
bottom line, the aircraft is no longer safe to fly, through no fault of the air farce, and needs to be retired..
Actually we have just spent about 300 million bucks on a major upgrade to much of the A-10 fleet which included a complete set of new production, zero time wings and a total airframe overhaul to keep the plane flying for another 25 years and about half the fleet has already been upgraded.
The sad fact of life is that the Hog is the modern day equivalent to the Douglas A-1 Skyraider - an airframe which is obsolete but which is so darn good at it's job that you just can't afford to get rid of it. Truth be known, we could really make some good use of the old A-1 in Iraq and Afghanistan even now. In fact, the old A-1 sitting on station above our troops for hours on end would be perfect for Afghanistan. The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.
Heck, P-47s or IL-2s would be better CAS aircraft in Afghanistan than an F-22 or F-35.
There are B52s flying that are a half-century old. There is no such thing as the airframe exceeding its life expectancy if it is maintained.