he’s suggesting that not only is the A10 obsolete but that it would be suicide to use it in a heavily contested air space where the side using it did not have air superiority
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So send them to Ukraine where to same conditions prevail and they can commit suicide?
“So send them to Ukraine where to same conditions prevail and they can commit suicide?”
Actually, yes. The Airforce so hated the A10 that they drove Fairchild Republic, the planes maker, out of business so they wouldn’t have to procure any more. They have been attempting to get rid of them in almost every budget I remember reading over for decades. Congress has resolutely stopped them, just as Congress has saved Abrams for at least since I worked on it starting in 2001.
The Airforce would be happy to get rid of them even if it costs the life of every Ukrainian pilot who flew it. Because the Airforce wants to spend the two billion or so dedicated to A10 on Gee-whiz stuff.
I remember reading that one AF general in the ‘50’s said something like, “If it doesn’t fly higher and faster than last year’s model, don’t even show it to me.” That appears to be the attitude today. Thus, we get ever more capable aircraft that may or may not be optimized for their stated functions. We won’t know until the defecation hits the fan and they either do, or do not perform as advertised. Frankly, I believe, as Stalin said, “Quantity has a quality all its own.”