The announcement comes during a week of contentious dialogue between the Air Force and Congress, with lawmakers alleging that the service is breaking the law by cutting back A-10 flying hours and by inflating its estimate of savings possible by retiring the A-10. Air Force officials say they are frustrated with lawmakers’ offbase claims that the service does not care about the close air support mission.
The Air Force, in deciding to cut the A-10 in order to save about $3.7 billion, analyzed other options, including cutting 350 F-16s, cutting the entire B-1B Lancer fleet and delaying the purchase of 40 F-35s. It determined the best decision was to get rid of the Warthog.
However, other aircraft do as well, USAF said. F-16s have flown more close air support sorties than the A-10 over the past eight to nine years. The F-15E, B-1, AC-130 and B-52 also provide close air support.
airforcetimes
Context is everything. The requirement for any Close Air Support mission is context specific. Any statement by the US Air Force that F-16s flew more CAS missions is irrelevant. The context under which the mission was flown is the relevant point. Many a special operator will tell you that an empty A-10 pass, in many cases was more useful than an F-16 pass dropping whatever.
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