We should be making more of these and not retiring them; what a brilliant machine of death. My favorite military aircraft of all time. Not having an aircraft that can actually do CAS and stay on station a long time is going to bite us in the ass in the coming war with China.

By the way, the F-35 can only fly for two hours before refueling. The A-10 can fly for three. And the F-35 is as fragile as a Ming vase compared to an A-10.

There is nothing — absolutely nothing — that can do what the A-10 can do in combat. Not a drone. Not an F-35. Not an F-22. Read the comments of the troops being supported by A-10s here to see what I mean: