Eh, there's issues with the A-10 sticking around if you're not planning to fight people with rusty Soviet castoffs forever; the GAU-8 isn't actually particularly useful against current gen tank armour and against any enemy with fighter cover or a decent supply of MANPADS it's going to be completely useless. I'd agree that the F-35 isn't a decent replacement, but I don't think the Air Force wants to spring for a current-gen A-10 replacement with composite armour and a railgun or something so they're hoping to do everything with JDAMs. Plus everyone is scared of proliferation of the current generation of Russian SAMs and I think they're trying to focus on aircraft that can deal with S-300.
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10-23-2013, 10:25 AM
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