4 ms·
Perhaps this is an Airforce/Fighter Jock fetish with speed? The A-10 isn't a super-fast super-maneuverable sexy jet, and they'd rather have more F-22s/F-35s wit
by cromwellian 11y ago
Perhaps this is an Airforce/Fighter Jock fetish with speed? The A-10 isn't a super-fast super-maneuverable sexy jet, and they'd rather have more F-22s/F-35s with all of the checkbox Nth-generation bells and whistles (stealth, super-cruise, etc)?
It's like an MVP product that serves customers vs a product loaded with features that only the developers wanted. The A-10 is boring and simplistic and old tech. Forget the fact that the F-35 is expensive, buggy, not the best in any category, and gets owned by earlier generation jets.
- zrail 11y agoThis is exactly it. The Air Force brass is all fighter jocks these days.
- nradov 11y agoThe top Air Force brass is a former A-10 pilot. I'm pretty sure he understands its strengths and weaknesses. http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/104966/general-mark-a-welsh-iii.aspx http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Arti...
- zrail 11y agoFlew an A10 for three months in training. AFAICT he then flew F16s for the rest of his operational career before transferring to command.
- oxide 11y agowhat I took away last time the A10 came up around here was that the AF brass (as well as the brass of every branch of the US military) were too busy fantasizing about future wars with China to appreciate the practical usefulness of the A10 in modern warfare.
- gozur88 11y agoI think the real explanation is more prosaic. The USAF is a giant bureaucracy, and giant bureaucracies take care of themselves before they take care of other giant bureaucracies. In this case, the army.