However, since you brought up contracts and Congress, let's discuss that. Of course those jobs that production brings also comes with heavy, heavy political and lobbying pressure. The A-10 is complete, but it is also very old. So if the Air Force is looking to the future, it has to have a replacement. We have KC-135s in service that were produced in the 1950s! We have B-52s that have been flying since before JFK was shot.
Sequestration took so much money in FY13 that they had to dip into Operations and Maintenance because the procurement dollars were "fenced" by legality and could not be touched. So you are correct that they have had almost 2 years to correct that, and they haven't.
But still, that does not mean that Sequestration and the other cuts are not a reality. To argue against that is to simply pound the table and ignore the facts.
IF Congress wants the F-35 (which they enormously do), and IF they still want the military to pay this "bill" while not touching entitlements, then something has to give.
That "something" for the Air Force is the A-10 and KC-10.
“I never said “F-35 replaces everything.” And yes, the F-35 does not have the same proven capabilities of the F-16”
You didn’t, the USAF did. They want it to replace everything from the F-18, to the F-16, to the F-15, to the Harrier, to the A-10, etc etc. The list goes on.
And it should trouble anyone that it cannot stay in the sky with an F-16, go as fast, turn as well, carry the load, or be maintained as easily, run on fuel that isn’t too warm, etc. The thing is a total moonpig. Its ONLY hope is to be networked and to win BVR. If it ever gets inside 10 miles, it cannot win against a 15 or 16. Hell, it doesn’t even have a bubble canopy. Its a razorback!
Its not about proven ability, its about can it TODAY or in any visible tomorrow defeat what it is intended to replace. That’s a very small baseline.
And if the air force has a smaller budget, then they need to run the F-16 and 15s that are fine. The F-35 really fits in nowhere. And its only calling card, stealth and networking will be EASILY defeated. This is beyond question with the explosion of computer power at the exponential rate. All radars already “see” stealth planes, they just don’t “know” they do due to too little computer power to understand the signal fast enough. Processing power grows faster than changes can be made in airframe design. So then we will be stuck with a low performing airframe that can carry almost nothing, and is no longer stealthy.
And at that moment, he will wish he was not in the slowest, highest wing loaded fighter, that cannot turn or accelerate, and has a very limited load. The will wish he was in an F-15SE.
The 15SE is the only beast that makes sense. And keeping the warthog.
And age of a plane means very little. It is hours, and the kinds of hours, and the SLEPS that tell the story. The B-52s and 135s really do not need a replacement. Neither the warthogs. I really cannot believe that after the last 25 years of experience, and with the wars we are in. That its even a question to keep the A-10.
That we even have to argue it shows how dismal condition our Air Force has fallen. And yes, it is the USAF, none less that SecAF is out bragging how she tried to make it go away, and is sure she can succeed in a few more years.