Where is the A-10 Warthog going' Nowhere

Also at Stars and Stripes:

"WASHINGTON - A showdown might soon settle one of the U.S. military's biggest air power controversies.

The high-tech and expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will face off in upcoming testing with the Air Force's aging close-air-support stalwart, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the director of the Defense Department operational test and evaluation office said Tuesday.

The battlefield comparison 'makes common sense' and will pit the two airframes against each other in a variety of war scenarios this year, Michael Gilmore said during Senate testimony.

The department is in the midst of developing the F-35 - the most expensive procurement program in its history - to take over the A-10's four-decade-old role of supporting ground forces with its titanium armor and powerful nose cannon. But the move is opposed by infantry troops and members of Congress who believe the A-10 is uniquely capable of saving lives on the battlefield..."

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/pentagon ... n-1.406393

The A-10 needs to be moved to the Army and the Corps. The fucking bus drivers have always hated close air support and they hate ground troops unless we happen to be cargo on one of their planes.

Which is a rotten attitude for them to have. There hasn't been a single air-to-air combat done by the Air Force since Saddam's obsolete MIG's were wiped out in the spring of 2003. All they've been committed to since has been precision attacks and close ground support. Blowing up shit for the soldiers has been their main task for over a dozen years. So, yeah, 100% right take the A-10 away from them ASAP and split the command of it between the Army and Marines. That infantry lives are considered expendable just because the AF doesn't find the A-10 flashy enough is absolutely ridiculous.

My favourite plane, especially when he is coming to do harm to bad guys in front of me.

That!

Also love how you see shit blow up before you even hear the plane coming!

You would think that the people in charge of procurement at the Pentagon would see this and reailse how stupid they're being with the F-35. The A-10 is built and can operate at 1-10th of the cost and with twice the combat effectiveness.

Footage of US Air Force Providing Air Support for Syrian Opposition Factions (VSO) in Aleppo

A-10 Warthog BRRRT Gun Run On ISIS Filmed By Daeshbags Themselves Near Aleppo
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Two different views of the A-10's ability in combat while the F-35 hasn't shown anything, yet.

Lockheen-Martin's tentacles have been wrapped around the Air Force for so long it doesn't even count as graft anymore. It's just an accepted fact that no matter how much it might affect force ability or degrade the mission LM is going to win. This JSF crap has been going on for so long now there's probably full-bird colonels in the Pentagon right now that have been playing waterboy for Lockheed since the graduated from the Air Force academy.

True that. The DoD is one giant welfare program for the military industrial complex. It doesn't matter if the system is needed or if it's even useful in combat. All that matter is that the right people get paid and congress people can say they supported the military by approving an expensive toy no one wanted.

It's especially bad when everyone's literally bet their farms on something as currently flawed as the F-35, which has the makings of being nothing but an Achilles heel for anyone who places their entire strategy around it.

Those videos don't do the A-10 justice. In person they sound just like the tripods blare in the Tom Cruise War of the Worlds movie: