[null and void]

If the Air Force doesn’t want A-10s, the Marines would be delighted to have them.

[Joe Boucher]

The A-10, a system that actually works and far exceeds it expectations.
Soooo, get rid if it.
What a shit load of dumbasses we have in gub mint today.

[DaxtonBrown]

[known for the distinctive whistling sound of their jet engines]

I suspect they are more remembered for their Gatling burp.

[caver]

I don’t believe the F-35 can do what the A-10 can do. Those are two different planes with two different purposes.

[ILS21R]

For scale.

[Migraine]

Damn, I love those planes! Leanest, meanest, war-machine-breaking fighting tool ever devised.

[Chainmail]

The Air Force has always despised the Close Air Support mission and done all it could to avoid it. The A-10 was a case of them being dragged unwillingly to the antitank mission back when the Soviets were facing us across the Fulda Gap.

The leadership of the Air Force has always espoused the theory that attacking "strategic targets" behind the enemy lines had a better payoff than being slaved to the despised grunts at the front line. Imagine how much better things would have gone at Omaha Beach at Normandy if the troops there had had good CAS?

But I digress; because of the institutional revulsion within the Air Force for CAS, their leadership has always pushed to get rid of the A-10 and getting A-10s was a mixed blessing. Because there was so little emphasis, A-10 pilots occasionally skipped the classes on identifying our or allied armor and there were some murderous incidents where they attacked and destroyed our own vehicles and killed our troops.

The army really needs to get its own CAS and let the Air Force go do something else.

[magslinger]

Miping for a warthog?

[equaviator]

What bothers me is that it’s the not just the A-10’s that would be going away at SANGB but the 107th FS itself.

[equaviator]

More on the story at:

http://www.military.com/news/article/af-eyes-a10s-guard-reserve-in-planned-closures.html

[C19fan]

But the Air Force wants to replace aging aircraft with the new F-35 fighter

Does the F-35 have a Gatlin gun that spews milk container sized bullets?? No! Does the F-35 have a titanium bathtub protecting the pilot?? No! Does the F-35 have the ability to loiter over the battlefield?? No! Can a F-35 take hits from 23 or 30 mm cannons and keep pounding the enemy and come back home?? No! Pathetic a military history buff knows more that the Air Force brass.

[Springman]

Guess we don’t need A-10s in Michigan, not like the Canadians will be coming across Lake St. Clair. /s

[JimRed]

A-10: Ugly as sin, tough as nails, very effective. One of my favorites!

[grellis]

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[Chode]

[Celtic Conservative]

Bummer! My agency uses their small arms range, and it is truly impressive to watch those A 10's do touch and goes when we have some down time. Also, they've been trying to kill Selfridge for years now. Looks like they're still trying.

CC

[hattend]

The A-10 Thunderbolts, known for the distinctive whistling sound of their jet engines,

Really? That's what they are "known" for? I always thought they were known for the 7 barrel 30mm gatling gun that vaporizes tanks.

[grellis]

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