Zero was one of the most worthless Presidents we've ever been infested with, but I can't blame him for that.
The “Perfumed Princes” of the Air Force have tried since the very beginning to get rid of the ‘Warthog.’ It's not pretty enough to suit them. Fortunately the Army has fought that battle numerous times and won. They know what the troops need.
I can blame him.
DoD submit their budget and Obama backed killing the jet. He lost the congressional battle submitted by brain-dead generals.
Army didn’t have a voice in the USAF budget, much like the USAF doesn’t have a voice when it comes to Army hardware.
People like to say the Army saved the A-10 but that simply is not true.
And no, the Army doesn’t want to own the A-10. Too costly and unwieldy for a land-based force that needs to be agile.
The A-10 has a long supply train and logistic demands that are incredible and would cost the Army dearly regarding mobility, maintenance, repair (real heavy tools. . .) in the field.
Not to mention prepositioning fuel blivits to service Army helicopters are hardly enough to service Army helos, then add A-10 fueling needs, and then try and schedule air-to-air re-fueling mission with USAF assets, and those tankers are already over-tasked.
Army can’t do it. And then we go back to why the USAF became its own service, meaning the theater-wide AOR of the A-10 spans many Corps boundaries and the Army would, again, fight over giving up their “assigned” A-10s for another Corps and (like Tunisia), Army Corps would hold onto their aircraft and not loan their aircraft just in case. . .