Another thing is it’s not possible for the F-16 to fly as slow as the A-10 without worrying about stalling. The A-10’s slow speed has a lot of advantages when detail and accuracy of close air support matters.
Especially with the fly speck size battles we have now over there.
There are many things they can do to upgrade the A-10.
They won’t do it because the Warthog is not a “pretty” aircraft.
And that really is the bottom line.
Meanwhile, the Russians developed the Su-25 frogfoot, and even made an upgraded version during the time our AF officers have been farting around over how to stick a pretty plane in a slot made for a big ugly hammer.