A lot of things the A-10 can accomplish, can be done even better by an AC-130 Spectre. It is very vulnerable to anti aircraft but I have read that the A-10 is also despite all that armor.
Good points.
The A-10 can be based from a rough airfield that is only minutes from take off to targets. The airfields can be shifted constantly, even landing on roads etc. A C-130 is not nicknamed “Fat Albert” for nothing. Great if you own the entire battlespace above the treetops, but terrible if an enemy has manpads. Sitting ducks, then.
One can field a number of A-10s for the price of one Specter.
AC-130 variants operate only at night due to vulnerability to most ground weapons.