“And unbelievably the powers that be want to retire this fine aircraft.”
The air force general in charge at the time famously said, “if it doesn’t go faster and higher than the last model, I don’t want it.” The air force so wanted to stop buying the aircraft that they ran the manufacturer out of business. Only the ground pounders wanted it and they have the least political pull. Weapons systems procurement is all about political power, pull, and money in key states or districts. It has nothing to do with defense.
Sadly, the USAF decided to retire the Hog because it is a single mission jet.
Simple.
The rationale, such as it is, is to retire single mission jets in favor of jets that are multi-mission capable.
Great idea in theory but a multi-mission jet is proof that a jet can be a jack of all trades but a master at none.
The A-10 is a master at CAS.
Budgets. Budgets. Budgets drive awful decisions sometimes, and USAF users of the A-10, from the pilots to the USAF guys on the ground (yes, the USAF has guys on the ground on the front lines in battle), they in no way want to retire the jet. . .it is the Wash DC acquisition geeks that argue for the multi-mission jet.