What You Need to Know: The A-10 Warthog, a legendary U.S. Air Force aircraft praised for its effectiveness in close air support (CAS), faces continual retirement efforts despite its proven battlefield utility. Critics argue that the A-10 is outdated and vulnerable to modern air defenses, while supporters point to its unmatched ability to provide direct support to ground troops.

-Upgrading the A-10 to incorporate stealth is deemed impractical due to its design and mission.

-Instead, advocates propose developing a new CAS platform with advanced technologies such as hypersonic flight and directed-energy weapons, while retaining the iconic Gatling gun that defines the Warthog’s fearsome reputation.

The A-10 Warthog is one of the most popular warplanes in the United States Air Force’s arsenal. It is also a warplane that the Air Force has been striving to kill for years. Eventually, the Air Force will get its wish.

One of the reasons that the Air Force keeps trying to retire the plane, despite it having proven in multiple wars its usefulness, is because the Pentagon argues the plane is simply too old. Certainly, the bird is older than, say, the F-22A Raptor or the F-35 Lightning II. But the Air Force is currently flying the B-52 Stratofortress as a strategic bomber that has flown since the end of the Second World War.

And the Air Force plans to keep flying the B-52s until the middle of this century (meaning the plane will have served for a century!)

Clearly, age is merely a construct in the eyes of Air Force planners.

Yet, they continue making the argument........

© The National Interest