The A-10 is the most effective combat aircraft in the US armed services in my opinion.
It’s a visible and loud aircraft—which is cool. I know several A10 pilots and they loved the plane.
But it is really only viable when air superiority is established. In the early days of a conflict it is too slow and vulnerable. As a Close Air Support weapon it is exceptional.
It is a tool in the toolbox.
If they could come up with an smaller, unmanned version it would be exceptional.
As a retired Air Force Senior NCO, I know that if we don’t protect the sky then the A-10 becomes a target for enemy fighters we didn’t clear out.
Air operations are a team effort. You cannot have ground support without air superiority.
The Russians learned this over Ukraine.
I love the A-10. My brother-in-law was an electronics countermeasure technician on them. I advocate keeping it flying, and BTW, so do many in the Air Force. For all the talk you hear on this website about how the Air Force “Hates” the A-10, many still are flying it, and many top leaders flew it, and none of them “hate” it.
Most of the talk around getting rid of it comes from the bean counters, because there always will be more needs for aircraft than money allows. So they try to balance that with cuts with no real mission sense, but much of the opposition to cutting the A-10 that comes from Congress is in fact pushed to them from the people who fly it.
If you look at the history of aircraft procurement, it has always been this way.
Based on???
Against countries without any kind of air defense, even MANPADs, I agree.
If the enemy has anything remotely modern, the A10 is a flying target.
Number of A-10s in Mothball Storage:
As of the latest public data, around 50 A-10A Thunderbolt IIs and 107 A-10C Thunderbolt IIs are in storage at the U.S. Air Force’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base “Boneyard”
I’ll go you one better: the AC-130J Ghostrider and previous versions. Better weapons, more weapons, more loiter time, more effective.
“The A-10 is the most effective combat aircraft in the US armed services in my opinion.”
Ludicrous.