I've read the Air Force hates the A-10 because it was designed by the Army to support ground troops, while they want to prepare for supersonic dogfights befitting their station. That's not hard to believe.
Now Germany is converting into wildlife sanctuaries, 62 military bases(76,000 acres, 31,000 hectares), which have become available due to restructuring their military. I figured this was former East German facilities, but no, they are mostly in West German forests. Claims of being altruistic to nature instead of selling the properties, but I suspect it's because it's easier to take it back from Bambi than Developers.
Anywho, Germany's not the only European country cutting back on military expenditure. Probably figure NATO will defend them and that means us. So the Pentagon makes a case for bigger budgets and snazzy toys. Then the Military Industrial Complex bullshits everyone by claiming they can build a Swiss-Army-knife plane that will razzle dazzle the bad guys into submission, knowing full well over budget is expected, it's a goddamn tradition. Nobody is punished, and it's, well, we've dumped so many of our eggs in this basket, we have to forge ahead.
I think they should be building a fleet of firefighting aircraft instead.
