>Well, again, there's always a difference between the top levels and
>what the dude actually flying and employing with it want. Remember,
>the last couple top dogs in the USAF leadership were F-15 and F-16
>jocks. I think the Hog's position is secure, except it is starting to
>get on up there. The BUFF, as amazing a machine it is, is also
>getting old, but by the time it DOES finally retire, it's going to be
>pushing 80 or 90.

I heard a line about the BUFF on the Military Channel once, which went something like "Why get rid of B-52? B-52 still works." And that really applies to both it and the Hog, because why get rid of an aircraft, no matter how old, if it's still the best at what it does?

>However you slice it though, that IS impressive. And personally, I
>think the psychological value alone warrants keeping a couple Hogs and
>BUFFs around even past the retirement date...just because :)

I think by 2048, we might have finally built a successor to the BUFF. But I could see the A-10 serving, if not in the USAF, then in some nation's air arm well past the retirement date.

>But the reason I mentioned the Skyraiders and the A-26s before - those
>things were in the boneyard, for years even, and Vietnam showcased a
>need for slow and low, reliable and durable CAS platforms - the kind
>of thing the SAC-driven USAF of the late '50s and '60s WASN'T
>building...

Hell, they said the Skyraider would never see combat. That, with WWII over and the Jet Age here to stay, the "Spad" would enjoy a short service life and then be replaced by a jet bomber. Then Korea happened and the same Admirals who'd written it off were now depending on it as a long-legged bomb truck. Wasn't until the A-4 came into service that there finally was an aircraft that could surpass it.

>FTW, we stick artillery pieces on C-130s though, can't be that...
>
>...except maybe by slinging some paladins underwing a C-5 or something
>:p

Give'em time. Before too long, they'll find something heavier or meaner that they can shoehorn into it. Like, say, a Metal Storm system that could fire 40mm grenades at 1 million rounds a second.