The air force leadership has been trying to kill the Warthog for years.
Back in the ‘90s their master plan was to replace it with the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
They were smugly arrogant about it too.
Claimed that while the ‘Hog was designed to take hits, the Falcon was designed to avoid them...
Idiocy at its best.
The USAF leadership has a favorite refrain: “Big sky, little bullet” Yet, the planes still take hits and the A-10 does that better than any currently in the inventory.
A-10 pilots call F-16s in a CAS role “lawn darts” for this exact reason. While the F-16 is a beautiful dogfighter, it can’t take a tenth of the punches an A-10 can.