Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
...they had a good performance during the Gulf War too - especially once they moved them up to (I think) a 10,000' hard deck (reference the 'Warthogs in the Gulf' book).
The F-16 was to start replacing the A-10 in the CAS role in the very late 80s through the early 90s.
I was out by then, but my recollection during DS was the F-16s were limited to >10,000' due to the ZSU threat. Above 10, they had to rely on LGBs if they wanted to actually hit anything.
Meanwhile, the Hogs were down in the dirt tearing through Iraqi armor with AGM-65s and the GAU. We lost several A-10s but the general consensus was if the F-16s were tasked with the same mission - SCUD hunting and CAS down low - we would have lost plenty more.
As a result, and probably much to the chagrin of some Pentagon Brass, the decision to mothball the A-10s in favor of F-16s in the CAS role was postponed for years.