I also have great affection for the A-10. Grumman design at it's most rugged and practical.
Helicopters are OK but fixed wing ground attack has inherent engineering advantages. I don't think that our people at the sharp end on the ground should have anything less than the best air support possible.
I am certain that the A-10 can be improved. Even though the machine is an older design, however, improvement is hard to imagine clearly. It depends somewhat on how anti A-10 weapons evolve.
An interesting ground attack approach is Burt Rutan's Ares
Scaled Composite's ARES
designed for maintenance in the field and to fly from two lane asphalt. The specification was developed by the US Army. This design is dated now also but has possibilities. The asymmetric design keeps gun recoil in line with center of drag and thrust and aircraft frontal area down. The GAU-30 puts out so much propellant gases that it was a problem to keep the engines running on burnt powder fumes instead of air and the Rutan concept keeps engine air intake and muzzle gases on either side of the aircraft.
Thanks for the link. I had read about that before and it seems like International Defense Weekly or one of the other trade magazines had an article on remotely piloted vehicles in the future and the possibility that an airframe similiar to the ARES would be the wave of the future for close air support.
It might even (gasp) be possible for the Army to fly the thing instead of USAF. Not that I do not love my Air Force brethren....
I think the ultimate replacement for the A-10 will be more like the Predator than the F-35. I want to keep the A-10 until that day comes (probably sooner than we all think).
It makes sense to have the F-35 but it does not make sense to risk an F-35 for a target that is worth 1/10000 value of the F-35. I posted this on a previous thread on my first day on this site and being interested in the topic I have read up on it since. We are faced with a long term conflict in this new war and economy will have to be factored in at some point as long as it does not pose undue risks to our personnel.
The ARES does look wicked though! There is just something about the GAU gun that comforts a guy who dug a few fox holes. :)