What people don’t realize is that the Air Force doesn’t “want to” retire the A-10, they were forced into making the horrible choice of dumping a new 5th generation aircraft that is coming on line or dumping the A-10. It’s impossible to make a good choice there. It’s like putting a gun to your head and telling you to decide between losing an arm and losing a leg.
The only reason that the Air Force has even entertained the notion of using an F-35 for CAS is because the alternative is to just walk away from the entire CAS mission outright. (I still hold the view that dropping JDAMs from an F-15 Strike Eagle, F-16, or B-1 is not truly CAS; it works when taking out moronic islamics that have no Air Force and can’t find reverse on a Russian tank but it’s a workaround, not a viable option against a well-equipped enemy that knows what they’re doing).
Yep, but that doesn’t matter...someone, somewhere said the F35 is going to be the A-10 replacement and justifiably, all hell broke loose. But that doesn’t give people license to lie about the F35.
But it is Washington that is responsible for this mess because of their constant mismanagement and lack of a budget...the sequestration crap has hit the services harder than any other function of government, it’s what RATS do and POS RINO’s support.
So, the media says “the USAF announced it is going to retire the A10 in favor of the F35.” and like good lemmings, the people believe it. No on looks at the back story as to WHY!
The F35 is not an optimum CAS aircraft, neither were the F15, the F16 and F22 in their original form...but the aircraft were made to be modestly successful and the F15 actually spun off into the SE as you mention.
The F35 will come into its own at some point in the future, just like the rest, including the A10. The A10 hasn’t gotten where it’s at in static form...many upgrades and enhancements have subsequently made it the great platform it has become for its mission.