Why should the A10 be retired? The B52 bomber is older and retirement is well into 2030. Two planes with two entirely different missions?

Question

but old is old. Wear and tear is different, but I don't understand the push to retire the plane, nor do I see the replacement in the near horizon.

Answer 1

The A-10 is very good at what it does.



However, it was only designed to do one thing - kill tanks and strike ground targets at low level. It was meant to hold off a Warsaw Pact invasion of then-West Germany.



I had a buddy who bent wrenches on the A-10 out at Davis-Monthan AFB back in the '80s. He told me a lot about the A-10's capabilities.



However, it has weaknesses. It is slow, it has no radar, very, very little air-to-air capability (except for an enemy A/C unfortunate enough to find itself in range of the Sidewinder AAM's it carries or its massive gun) and they are wearing out (B-52s are too, but they are not called upon to do the kind of turning-and-burning that A-10s do at low level).



My former ANG unit converted from F-16C/D's and a dedicated Air Defense mission to the A-10C a few years ago...and now they are planning to convert to Block 60 F-16's!



Way too many F-16's were retired in the Afghan/Iraq Wars because they were not seen as useful for "boots on the ground" support as the A-10...leaving us with a massive gap in our air defenses.



The F-35 is a money pit. There is very little it does (other than overhyped "stealth") that the Block 60 F-16 cannot do.

Answer 2

B-52 Retirement

Answer 3

In any mid-east war the A-10 would likely be the most valuable asset in the air.



Could it possibly be for that very reason that someone would not want it around?



BTW, the idea is that it is too old is a sham. The B-52 is a 1950's design and the newest ones are 30-40 years old.

Answer 4

If you do not understand, then you have not been reading the news articles about the reasons the Air Force wants to retire the A10.



I recommend that you put those fingers to work on google and do some actual research. The reasons the Air Force wants to retire the aircraft is pretty straight forward.

Answer 5

The U.S. Air Force was never into CAS. The promotion for the F-15 was "Not A Pound For Air To Ground." The U.S. was into long range nuclear armed bombers from the start of the Cold War.

Answer 6

Same reasons as for the past 35 years:



No pointy nose



No wept wings



No afterburners



Flies low enough to actually see the ground



Does not look good with the white silk scarf.

Answer 7

mostly because the cancer of JSF requires more and more funding. A10 is a SUPERIOR platform because you DON'T need a stealth to bomb the cr@p out of cavemen.



the JSF is a modern equivalent of F-105. just a bit more of a videogame.