Next-Gen Warthog Takes Off reports that the Air Force’s $300 million A-10C program will produce new, upgraded Warthogs. It also cites a 2003 New York Times op-ed for a bit of history:
Until the A-10 was built in the 1970′s, the Air Force used old, underpowered aircraft to provide close air support. It never had a plane specifically designed to fly low to the ground to support field troops. In fact, the A-10 never would have been built had not the Air Force believed the Army was trying to steal its close air support role — and thus millions of dollars from its budget — by building the Cheyenne helicopter. The Air Force had to build something cheaper than the Cheyenne. And because the Air Force detested the idea of a designated close air support aircraft, generals steered clear of the project, and designers, free from meddling senior officers, created the ultimate ground-support airplane.It is cheap, slow, low-tech, does not have an afterburner, and is so ugly that the grandiose name ‘Thunderbolt’ was forgotten in favor of ‘Warthog’ or, simply, ‘the Hog.’ What the airplane does have is a deadly 30-millimeter cannon, two engines mounted high and widely separated to offer greater protection, a titanium ‘bathtub’ to protect the pilot, a bullet- and fragmentation-resistant canopy, three back-up flight controls, a heavy duty frame and foam-filled fuel tanks — a set of features that makes it one of the safest yet most dangerous weapons on the battlefield.