It's not that the Air Force doesn't want to fulfill the CAS role, they wan't the F-35 to do so instead which won't be truly CAS capable in a high threat contest

It's not that the Air Force doesn't want to fulfill the CAS role, they wan't the F-35 to do so instead which won't be truly CAS capable in a high threat contested environment for at least another 4-6 years. So, they want the F-15 and F-16 community to take over the role in the meantime -- a job the A-10 was built for and better equipped to handle (which is why it's the most requested asset for CAS). The Army would have been a much better place for these rugged jets, but they have no budget capacity for it and the Air Force is not going to allow them to have a fixed-wing CAS aircraft.