there are three ways to kill tanks without having a 50% loss rate and taking forever.
1. establish air supremacy, blow up tanks from 15,000 feet with Paveways.
2. cut their fuels supplies. a tank without fuel is just a really shit, and short ranged, Artillery piece.
3. use a stand off, multi target system like Brimstone or JSOW.
the A-10 simply isn't capable of surviving on the modern battlefield, its too slow, and using the gun means having to make multiple passes - both are big no-no's. in COIN its no better than an F-16, its just a lot slower - this is a problem if you call out for CAS (close air support) and the nearest aircraft available to provide it is 100 miles away - if i scream for fire an F-16/Typhoon/F-15/F/A-18 will put his toes down and touch 1000mph, an A-10 will turn up five years later at 400mph. the gun isn't actually much use in COIN because of the size of its danger area - that means it difficult to use when you have troops in contact, as well as being politically difficult because of the proximity of civpop. for troops on the ground, as well as forward air controllers, a 500lb Paveway or JDAM - or a Hellfire/Brimstone - dropped off a fast jet at 15,000ft is infinately preferable to a gun run from an A-10. its more accurate, its less vunerable (if an A-10 comes in for a firing run you have to stop shooting at whatever is shooting at you and start shooting at anything that could shoot at the A-10), and its much more likely to be with you in 5 minutes than an A-10.
the only people who really rate it are A-10 mafia, and US politicians who know jack shit.
it would have been fantastic on the inner german border in 1986. go that way and blow up anything you see painted green - not least because the lack of guided weapons at the time meant that the gun was more accurate than 'dumb bombing' from a Tornado GR1 doing 600knots at 12ft. now its the other way around, and the A-10's gun is about the least accurate weapon than can be brought to bear.
