A new report from the Government Accountability Office dives deep into the all important question the Air Force and the Senate Armed Services Committee have been wrestling with for years — should, or can, the Air Force divest itself of the A-10?

The report, thoroughly researched and evaluated, gives a clear answer — definitely not.

Even with the looming adoption of the all important F-35, the report finds that retiring the A-10 would leave significant capability gaps behind, and that the Air Force currently has concrete plans to bridge those gaps.

In the slides below, find out exactly what the A-10 does, and how the Air Force, whether they admit it or not, just can't live without it.