You know what I don’t like about them? They’re kind of a symbol of American arrogance and bullying.
It’s only useful where there is zero AAA and zero threat from enemy fighters. It’s a cargo plane - it packs a wallop, of course, but you use it when “the other guy” is a bunch of dudes running around on the ground with no chance to fight back.
The fact that we have them in inventory says a LOT about the types of wars we’ve been fighting for the past 40 years.
(Super unpopular opinion - the A-10 is not much better, but at least it has some genuine anti-armor capabilities.)