I still recall some air Force talking weiner back twenty or more years ago stating that they would replace the Warthog with the f-16 because “the Warthog was designed to take hits, the fighting falcon was designed to avoid them!”
Wish I could find that specific article, I tried.
It struck me back then as being short sighted and wrong headed on CAS.
The airforce seems to, like a drunken belligerent, keep returning to that idea as if this time it will work.
Follow the money? The F-16 is fun to watch and I love it’s design but the Hog is like a Gunny Sgt, not pretty but the best.
Who owns the mfg companies? It’s the tippy top brass that would make those decisions, eh? I have a feeling Trump + Mattis may have had a hand in this decision to re-wing. Neither would like to make the calls to family, especially Mattis.
From ABC:
When Gen. James Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 after a 41-year career, he planned a cross-country route back to his home state of Washington from his friend’s country cabin.
“The route he chose was dictated by the Gold Star Mothers he had to visit along the way,” says his longtime friend, retired Marine Maj. Gen. Michael Ennis, who first met Mattis in 1972, when they were both new officers. “He spent almost two weeks on that cross-country drive, zig-zagging to get to as many as he could to personally talk to them.”
“He personally wrote hand-written notes to every parent whose son or daughter was killed under his command,” said Ennis. “He cares deeply. He also works very hard to keep his Marines from being killed unnecessarily.”
Ennis described Mattis, who is a contender to be Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, as a “classic warrior” who “fights to win.”
“He cares deeply about those who serve under him and the parents of those who die under him,” Ennis added.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gen-james-mattis-close-friend/story?id=43718969