The production cost of the F-35 is about 90 million. It can do everything that the A-10 can except that it has less gun ammo and it has far better sensors.

Airframe life is not the same as aircraft life. Just because the aiframe can hold up for another 8000 hours doesn’t mean the rest of the aircraft will and it is only a matter of time before they run out of spare parts.

The A-10 only performs 20% of all CAS missions and it can only operate in a low threat environment. Sure it is a good platform for COIN but the aircraft are old and need replacement with something like the Super Tucano.

I like the A-10, it is a great aircraft but we need to be realistic about what it can do and the fact that it can’t keep flying forever.