The Air Force's 2015 budget proposal to retire the A-10 Warthog—famed for its fearsome 30 mm gun and rugged survivability—elicited a firestorm of protest from A-10 fans and some ground troop supporters—many of whom seem unwilling to accept any other USAF platform for delivering close air support.
Oh, so close! But that charge against A-10 "fans" falls outside the circular error probable (CEP).
Closer to the mark is that those who support keeping the A-10 are unwilling to accept any other USAF platform for delivering close air support that the Air Force actually has or will have in the near future.
A subtle difference, I know.
I'm not even fully on board the notion that the F-35 can handle the sir superiority mission.
But I'm not even as confident as that for the close air support mission. Supporters of retiring the A-10 are resorting to sheer nonsense to defend that bad decision.
The Air Force says the words, but their spending decisions demonstrate how little they think of close air support.
Sorry, I get a little emotional about the subject.
Heck, there's even a crappy Internet video that is inciting A-10 defenders.
Meanwhile, the A-10 has been ordered to support the renewed Iraq War.
