Budget constraints have made senior Air Force leaders start openly talking about retiring the venerable A-10, again.

Hostage said he had already talked to Army officials about losing the A-10 and using other jets to take over the close-air support role. The Army was “not happy” about the possibility, Hostage said.

Every decade or so a push has been made to mothball the Warthog, which was originally designed as a tank-killer for the eastern-European theatre.  At one point there was even talk about the Army acquiring the A-10s if the Air Force cut them.

The F-35 is ultimately supposed to replace the A-10 (and the F-16), though the F-16 was supposed to replace the A-10, as well.  Why didn’t it?  Bluntly, nothing can do what the A-10 does as well as it can.

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