[Thumper1960]

It seems that those I know who were military believe the A-10 to be worth the effort to keep in the arsenal.

Are those valid opinions?

Just asking, because I am not familiar with the benefits those who I have talked with seem to believe they have.

[moovova]

“Are those valid opinions?”

Resounding YES.

No ifs, ands or buts about it.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

As I understand it, the brass hate the plane but ground troops love and revere it. When the troops are in a tight spot the ugly flying tank comes in and crushes the enemy scattering their body parts in the wind... waggles its wings at the troops... and then continues its patrol.

[null and void]

Are those valid opinions?

Those are merely the opinions of the insignificant ground troops who have been saved by them, and the actual lowly pilots who have been brought back to base even when they were subject to amazing amounts of battle damage.

They do not reflect the opinions of important people, the top brass, who loathe the A-10 because it's slow and homely.

Nor do they reflect the opinions of even more important people, the few enemy terrorists who managed to survive their encounters with "The Cross in the Sky".

[Hulka]

s a former A-10 Hog Driver, it is a tremendous asset in the air-to-ground world. Fun to fly and firing the gun is the most fun you can have with your trousers on.
The gun sends the A-10 round when you want anything dead. Ballers come out at 3,600 feet per second at 112,600 rpm, train ground can penetrate an inch and a half of armor at 6,000 feet, whereas the 20mm “pop-gun” on other jets need to close to 2,000 feet.
I could go on but you get the point.

[Svartalfiar]

It seems that those I know who were military believe the A-10 to be worth the effort to keep in the arsenal.

Are those valid opinions?

Just asking, because I am not familiar with the benefits those who I have talked with seem to believe they have.

A10s are the best CAS you can get, for several reasons. Fast movers don't have the loiter time, maneuverability, or ordnance. The fancy jets can come in fast, drop a bomb or two, and that's about it. An A10 can come in, and hang out for a while. It has its 30mm gun, bombs, rockets, etc. More versatile loadout. And the psycological factor - bad guys see an A10, they pack up and go home. But a jet? It comes, it's gone. You don't have time to run, but it's not gonna follow you or harass all your buddies like a Warthog can.

AC130s are good, but we don't have as many of those and they don't have the same visibility as the A10. Not nearly as much scare factor.

[trebb]

There’s never been a better close support aircraft.