The A-10 is the exact sort of airplane they need now, so it's absolutely baffling to see people even talking about phasing these out and replacing the with the flying turkey that is the F-35.
As Iraq and Afghanistan proved, you need extremely close range support and sustained fire. The cannon on the A-10 is good enough for the sorts of targets they're dealing with, armor is rare, and it has significantly more mobility than the other best alternative, the AC-130.
What use is the F-35 when it can't linger, has extremely limited bombing capability, and can't strafe when necessary?
The A-10 is an extremely pragmatic solution to a messy problem.
As Iraq and Afghanistan proved, you need extremely close range support and sustained fire. The cannon on the A-10 is good enough for the sorts of targets they're dealing with, armor is rare, and it has significantly more mobility than the other best alternative, the AC-130.
What use is the F-35 when it can't linger, has extremely limited bombing capability, and can't strafe when necessary?
The A-10 is an extremely pragmatic solution to a messy problem.