A lot of this battle damaged A-10’s get retired. Yes, the survive and most often bring their pilots home. But from a fleet perspective there just aren’t enough of them left. Get into a major fight and the fleet will collapse.
Not many get retired. Vey few can’t be repaired and mission ready.
And getting the pilot back is very important part of retention.. and we can’t easily lose pilots because it takes a lot of time and bucks to requal a pilot.
The Hog can get hit and repaired and back to mission-ready status faster than other is and this ensures numbers on the line. Cold War days, the A10 was an important part of tht major fight and was a significant force multiplier.
Fleet?. . .Navy?
And final, having studied the numbers and BD reports, it will last a lot longer than most other jets. Been to AMARC and dug through the historical documents and it is a very survival platform.