“You’ve just put your finger on one of the problems. The A-10 has legendary loiter capabilities, but it isn’t what they would call a “fast mover”.”
Give me a few A-10’s and a couple of AC-130’s over an active battlefield and I will win every time. Let the F22-35 component keep the sky clear for me.
Sure. That’s what we’d all prefer. It’s just that the enemy “gets a vote”. They’ll wait for that loitering A-10 to head back to the barn before they start the attack. The time & distance problem is only going to get worse when the USAF switches to a Super Tocano or whatever they’re calling the light-attack version of the T-6 Texan.