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Wintermute  ·  2829 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Air Force is looking for a cheaper Warthog

    The A-10 costs between $19,000 and $20,000 per hour to fly. Welsh said he would like to see an aircraft that cost between $4,000 to $5,000 per hour.

Stopped reading right there... Predictably KB has already provided the exact information I was going to ask about, and the disconnect between the USAF and reality is as wide as ever.

Everyone but the Air Force brass loves the A-10. I get that the airframes are older than dirt and probably need to be replaced (then again, we still fly B-52's), but why don't we just dust off the old A-10 plans, digitize them, maybe do a bit of modern CFD magic on the aerodynamics, and crank out some new Super-Warthogs?