The A-10 is an amazing, enigmatic aircraft. If you talk to the US ground forces, they first ask why we don’t have armadas of A-10s to blanket the battlefield and wreak havoc on their enemy. Then they ask why don’t we make drone A-10s to do that.
And if the answer to the first question is complicated, the answer to the second one is paradoxical.
That is, as part of its design, as much of the A-10 as possible has redundant systems. This means, and has been proven, that in combat, an A-10 can take an unbelievable amount of punishment and still return home. Aircraft missing big chunks of wing and tail, perforated with holes so much you can see through them, blasted, scorched, torn apart.
And they do. Beaten all to heck up, they still limp home, nursed by their pilot. And that is the key. While an A-10 is a devastating weapon at several altitudes, when it is severely wounded, it needs a pilot to bring it home.
A drone or remote pilot just doesn’t have the feel of the aircraft. And the A-10, or the Raptor, which comes pretty close, is too pricey to just casually throw away. This means that it can fly high, but unless the target is critical, it can’t fly above the treetops and do that voodoo that A-10s do so well.
It is as amazing aircraft.