Note that the A-10 was originally designed to do battle with the full might of the Soviet Union. It was designed to lose a lot of parts and still fly. The pilot sits in a "bathtub" of titanium armor.
On an editorial note, the many occurrences of the word "inversion" in this story should probably have been "reversion".
The USAF has been trying to kill this plane for 15 years. Not sure WTF they are thinking.